Police: Weekend homicide victim was shot downtown, not during Uptown gunfire

Police on Tuesday said a man who was initially thought to be fatally shot in Uptown early Sunday morning during a hail of gunfire that wounded several victims was actually shot in downtown Minneapolis.

The person they said died, identified by family as 27-year-old Cody Pollard, from the violence in the bustling entertainment district, was shot that same night downtown. The number of people shot in Uptown is now 11, all of them in their 20s.

Police spokesman John Elder said in a statement that after the shootings, several people arrived in private vehicles to HCMC to "a very chaotic scene." The man later identified as Pollard was among them, and he was eventually pronounced dead after lifesaving attempts.

Through additional interviews and investigation, Elder said, officers received conflicting information about where in the city Pollard was shot.

"Some people stated the incident occurred in Uptown, and some reported it was downtown," Elder said, adding that there we no reported calls of shots fired downtown between 12:30 and 1 a.m. Sunday, when the Uptown shootings occurred.

Police now believe Pollard was shot in the area of 7th Street and N. 1st Avenue, steps from the First Avenue music venue.

The only call for law enforcement response in that area at that time was of a vehicle driving erratically, Elder said.

"We apologize for any hardships this reporting may have caused," Elder said.

Police Chief Medaria Arradondo spoke to reporters late that morning and referenced one person being shot to death in Uptown along with the surviving victims, calling the gunfire "tragic and senseless" while also decrying the continuing surge in shootings in the city in past several weeks.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482