Woman shot, killed in minivan in north Mpls. was 'in wrong place, at wrong time'

Her death marks the city's 10th homicide of the year.

May 27, 2016 at 10:17AM

A woman fatally shot as she sat in a minivan in north Minneapolis on Thursday evening was not the intended target of the gunfire that killed her, police said.

Officers called to the scene in the 2100 block of Penn Avenue N. about 6 p.m. found the woman in the vehicle with a gunshot wound. She was taken by ambulance to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, where she died.

She is the city's 10th homicide victim of the year.

"This appears to be an innocent victim — someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said police spokesman John Elder. "There's no indication [she] was engaged with the shooter."

The woman's death came on a night of frequent gunfire in the area. The shooting that killed her was one of three in the area Thursday night. Two other people suffered noncritical wounds in the others, Elder said.

In the Penn Avenue N. shooting, the suspected shooters may have been firing at a different vehicle, a tan sedan, but stray bullets may have hit the minivan instead, according to scanner audio.

Just after the shooting, officers were called to a house in the 2100 block of Oliver Avenue N. into which suspects may have fled. Several people suspected of having links to the shooting were arrested and are being questioned by police, Elder said.

It was unclear late Thursday if anyone else was in the woman's vehicle at the time of the shooting.

Photos tweeted from the scene showed a group of residents gathering after the shooting to watch, mourn and pray.

Detectives worked at the scene and officers canvassed the area into the night. The minivan the woman had been in was towed from the scene about 10 p.m.

In roughly the first five months of this year, 123 people have been shot and wounded or killed in Minneapolis — 97 of them in north Minneapolis — compared with 65 during the same period last year. At the current pace, north Minneapolis will eclipse last year's total of gunshot victims by late September.

Anyone with information is asked to call the police tip line at 612-692-TIPS (8477).

Minneapolis police looked for evidence next to a home near the scene of a fatal shooting at 21st and Penn avenues N. on Thursday night.
Minneapolis police looked for evidence next to a home near the scene of a fatal shooting at 21st and Penn avenues N. on Thursday night. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Police look for evidence next to a home near the scene of a fatal shooting at Penn Avenue North and North 21st Avenue on Thursday, May 26, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minn. ] (AARON LAVINSKY/STAR TRIBUNE) aaron.lavinsky@startribune.com Police investigate a fatal shooting at Penn Avenue North and North 21st Avenue on Thursday, May 26, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minn.
Police looked for evidence Thursday near the scene of a fatal shooting at Penn and 21st avenues N. in Minneapolis. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
about the writer

about the writer

Liz Sawyer

Reporter

Liz Sawyer  covers Minneapolis crime and policing at the Star Tribune. Since joining the newspaper in 2014, she has reported extensively on Minnesota law enforcement, state prisons and the youth justice system. 

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