Three shot to death overnight in Minneapolis; officer shoots, wounds suspect in one homicide

Another lethal weekend unfolded Saturday in violence-weary Minneapolis, where three people were fatally shot overnight in different parts of the city, two of them struck by stray bullets while watching illegal street racing.

In the third homicide, which happened downtown, the suspect was wounded by gunfire from a Metro Transit officer before being arrested.

The trio of overnight deaths brought the number of homicides in Minneapolis to 38 for the year. That total, for a period of just over five months, also includes the death of Winston Smith, 32, who was fatally shot by a federal fugitive task force during an arrest attempt Thursday in Uptown.

"All of Minneapolis — from residents to police to elected officials — must unite to stop this intolerable violence," Mayor Jacob Frey said in a prepared statement Saturday night. "I am lockstep with Chief [Medaria] Arradondo, working to secure additional resources to immediately bring perpetrators of violence to justice and ensure public safety."

Frey said the city's recently finalized proposal for federal relief money continues his and Arradondo's focus on "community safety beyond policing, prevention, and the root causes of crime."

Within a matter of minutes, Saturday's gun violence claimed the lives of a woman watching street racing in north Minneapolis, a young man viewing a different race on E. Lake Street and a man shot to death downtown under unknown circumstances.

Minneapolis police officers were called at 1:37 a.m. Saturday to North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, where the woman had been taken in a private vehicle for treatment of gunshot wounds, according to police spokesman John Elder. She died just as they arrived.

A preliminary investigation led homicide detectives to the 2200 block of N. 2nd Street, where they found evidence related to the woman's shooting. She was not the shooters' intended target but was caught in a hail of bullets fired by others at a street race.

Late Saturday, the woman's family identified her on social media as Vanessa Jensen, 19, and said she had gone to watch street racing on the block and was fatally shot when two of the hot-rodders got into a dispute and began shooting at each other.

"Today is the worst day ever ... to get a call that your daughter has been shot, then you go down to the hospital and find out she is no longer here," her father, Travis Jensen, wrote in a Facebook post. "I love you very much and I will always miss you, Vanessa Jensen."

Vanessa Jensen's Facebook page said she lived in St. Paul and attended White Bear Lake Area High School's South Campus.

The second homicide, also at a street-racing scene, was reported at 1:48 a.m. Officers were called to the area of E. Lake Street, under the bridge that goes over Hiawatha Avenue, on a report of a person shot.

They found a young man or teenage boy with a gunshot wound and performed CPR until paramedics arrived. He was taken to HCMC, where he died.

Back at the scene, patrol officers and homicide investigators interviewed witnesses and learned that "a group of people in cars took over the portion of East Lake Street where Hiawatha passes over it," according to Elder. "The people in the cars were driving recklessly and spinning around in their cars, causing damage to the roadway, when two of the individuals got into a dispute."

The two hot-rodders began to shoot at one another, and a stray bullet struck the male victim, who had pulled over to watch the street race and was standing outside of his car when he was hit.

Elder said there has been a "steep increase" in illegal street racing over the last 18 months. Groups go out after dark and "literally terrorize communities by their lawless and dangerous behavior," he said.

He said that in a series of cases, participants also have assaulted police by aiming fireworks, rocks and other objects at them when they arrive at the scene of a race and that the hot-rodders are recruiting new participants for such activity.

Law enforcement agencies have been teaming up across the metro to crack down on the practice, he said.

"This isn't just two cars driving down the road trying to see who crosses the finish line first," added Elder. "These are people that are engaging in dangerous and exhibition driving that threatens the public safety and the personal safety of those in the area. It's criminal — the bottom line is, it's criminal."

The night's third homicide happened just after 2 a.m. in downtown Minneapolis. Metro Transit police officers in the area of Hennepin Avenue and S. 5th Street encountered a scene in which a man fatally shot another man. A Metro Transit officer pursued the suspect and shot him in the leg.

The man shot by the suspect was taken to HCMC, where he died. The 23-year-old suspect shot in the leg by the officer was also taken to HCMC for treatment of his wound, then was moved to the Hennepin County jail.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the Metro Transit officer shooting.

Last year, there were 84 homicides in Minneapolis, the second-most recorded in a year. The record of 97 was set in 1995. In 2019, the city recorded 48 homicides.

Staff writers Pamela Miller and Libor Jany contributed to this report.

Maya Rao • 612-673-4210