Teen fatally shot in north Minneapolis, the city's 65th homicide of the year

A teenage boy was killed and another person injured in a shooting Wednesday afternoon near a troubled block in north Minneapolis' Jordan neighborhood.

The incident happened just before 4 p.m. in the area of N. Lowry and Logan avenues, where a man was gunned down earlier this fall.

A Minneapolis police spokesman said a confrontation between two groups escalated into gunplay; the suspect or suspects fled before officers arrived, he said.

Police have otherwise released scant details about the shooting and said the boy's age and identity would be released in the coming days pending the outcome of an autopsy.

His death was the city's 65th homicide of the year — the third highest total on record — and the 10th in which the victim was 18 years or younger.

The block has earned a reputation for drug dealing, prostitution and, occasionally, gunfire, with neighbors singling out the Full Stop gas station that sits on the corner as a magnet for trouble. A neighborhood group called a community meeting this summer for residents to tell their concerns to police and City Council Member Phillipe Cunningham, who represents the area.

A few weeks later, on Aug. 30, the corner was the site of another fatal shooting.

In that incident, Lindsey David Morris, 48, died at an area hospital after being shot while sitting inside a car near Logan and Lowry. Witnesses told police that the suspect or suspects were seen leaving the scene in a silver Monte Carlo with a racing flag decal. No arrests have been announced.

While the pace of nonfatal shootings slowed a bit in recent weeks after the creation of a federal anti-crime task force and launch of a Cure Violence-like crime prevention initiative, the number of killings has not: Wednesday's homicide was the fifth in the past seven days.