Two people injured, one killed in rash of weekend shootings in Minneapolis

One man was killed and two men injured in three weekend shootings across Minneapolis, which is bracing for Monday's start of the Derek Chauvin murder and manslaughter trial.

The homicide happened close to the scene of George Floyd's death nearly a year ago, at the intersection of 38th and Chicago, now known as George Floyd Square.

The man died at Hennepin County Medical Center after the shooting around 5:45 p.m. Saturday.

Authorities did not release the victim's identity, but friends and colleagues identified him as Imez Wright, 30, of Minneapolis.

Wright worked for Change Inc., a Twin Cities organization where he was part of a team of 10 social service staffers who mentor Black youth in St. Paul. The Ramsey County program is funded by the state Department of Human Services.

He was training to be a mental health practitioner.

"It is a huge loss for our organization, our team," said Quinton Bonds, one of his supervisors. "Our team is like family. We lost a family member."

Wright had a tempestuous youth, with a long list of petty offenses, many of them traffic incidents. He also had a conviction for domestic abuse and another for the sale of narcotics in 2012.

Bonds said that Wright told him that he wanted to help steer young people in the right direction.

"He always said he wishes he would have known better," Bonds said. "He was very authentic."

Steve Floyd, one of Wright's supervisors and a co-founder of the Agape movement, a community protection program for the George Floyd Square area, said Wright was passionate about changing his life.

Few details on the shooting were available. Police spokesman John Elder said initial findings indicate that the victim and a suspect had been arguing. After the shooting, the suspect fled in a light-colored Suburban that was struck by gunfire.

In other shootings:

At 10:44 p.m. Saturday, a man was injured in Uptown in the area of Lagoon between Girard and Hennepin avenues. The man was taken to HCMC with noncritical injuries.

At 4:49 a.m. Sunday, officers responded to a shooting in the 2700 block of Upton Avenue N. A man suffering from noncritical injuries was taken to North Memorial Health Hospital. Police reported that the man was in a vehicle when he was shot.

No arrests have been made in any of the three shootings, Elder said. He added that the shootings have no correlation to the upcoming Chauvin trial, set to begin with jury selection on Monday, and that nice weather typically drives an uptick in crime.

Saturday's homicide is likely the 12th homicide in Minneapolis so far this year.

Elder said charges in Thursday's fatal hit-and-run in north Minneapolis haven't yet been filed, but if charged as a homicide, that would mark the city's 11th since the start of 2021.

A 54-year-old man was arrested in connection with the hit-and-run crash that killed 49-year-old Jerry Lee Johnson, according to a release Sunday from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office.

Johnson was killed at 5:55 p.m. Thursday when he was struck near the intersection of 30th and Newton Avenue N. The medical examiner stated the cause of death as multiple blunt-force injuries.

That case and the three shootings remain under investigation.