Teen hit by gunfire in Uptown is charged in previous Minneapolis mass shooting

A teenager wounded this week during a spray of gunfire in Uptown has been charged with unleashing rapid-fire gunshots last summer in south Minneapolis that hit nine people outside a corner store.

Jaden T. Butcher, 18, of Minneapolis, was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of fleeing police in connection with a mass shooting in August outside the Minneapolis Market, near the intersection of E. Franklin and S. Chicago avenues.

The shooting last summer occurred close to the same location where four people were shot — one fatally — on Tuesday afternoon. On Thursday, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office said Pierre R. Miller, 34, of Minneapolis, died at the scene from several gunshot wounds. No arrests have been announced stemming from this shooting. Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the area in the Ventura Village neighborhood is known as an illicit drug “hot spot.”

Reported gunshots in Ventura Village have fallen 16 percent from a 2021 peak, but last year still finished 43 percent above 2019 levels, according to police department data. In 2023, there were four homicides in Ventura Village.

Butcher was treated at HCMC for a gunshot wound to his foot and jailed Tuesday. He appeared in court and remains held in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a hearing on March 28. A message was left with Butcher’s attorney seeking a response to the allegations.

According to the criminal complaint and police records concerning the shooting on Aug. 20:

Shortly before 6 p.m., two people got out of a car with guns — a pistol and a fully automatic rifle — and fired at least 42 rounds into a crowd and hit “no less than nine people,” the charges read. ShotSpotter technology detected at least 28 shots fired within 1½ seconds.

“At least four of the people shot were juveniles,” the complaint noted, “as well as a grandmother who was present with her approximately 8-year-old granddaughter. The granddaughter is ... trampled as the victims flee at the time of the shooting.”

Some of the gunfire hit a house at the corner of Elliot and Franklin avenues, but no one inside was hurt.

Jerome Allen told the Star Tribune last year that he was shot in the elbow from what he described as “rapid” gunfire. For the next couple of days, Allen said, “I would sit in my car and I could just feel myself grabbing the back of my head. Like I’m hearing the gunshots again.”

Another victim, Sherron Walker, said she was crawling on the floor of the store after a bullet shattered her foot. Walker said she was praying the assailants wouldn’t come in the store “and start shooting us.”

The charges said that surveillance video from “various sources” helped investigators identify the car and track it to Butcher’s guardian as the owner. Three days after the shooting, investigators saw Butcher get in the car outside the home of his brother and drive away. Undercover officers tailed Butcher and the State Patrol attempted to stop him, but he sped off and was not pursued.

Six months later, on Monday, Butcher showed up at HCMC after being shot shortly before 10:30 p.m. near the 1300 block of W. Lake Street in the Uptown area. A 911 dispatcher reported what sounded like automatic gunfire.

At least five guns were used in the shooting, and police tallied roughly 100 discharged cartridge casings. Some hit an apartment building and a parked vehicle.

Police have not announced any arrests in this case.

Anyone with information about any of these shootings is encouraged to call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Tips may be submitted electronically at CrimeStoppersMN.org. All tips are anonymous, and anyone providing information leading to an arrest and conviction may be eligible for a financial reward.

Star Tribune staff writers Liz Sawyer, Stephen Montemayor, Jeff Hargarten and Andy Mannix contributed to this story.