1:05One person was dead and at least two others were in critical condition after seven people were shot Wednesday night in north Minneapolis, police said.
The carnage, which unfolded just before 9 p.m., added to the grim toll that a sharp escalation in shootings has taken on north Minneapolis this year.
The bloodshed erupted when many shots were fired on Newton Avenue N. between 15th and 16th avenues N., according to police Inspector Mike Kjos.
Calls to 911 from citizens and ShotSpotter notifications flooded in with reports of up to 32 shots fired, and officers were on the scene — which is near the Minneapolis Police Department' Fourth Precinct headquarters — within two minutes, Kjos said.
Police initially said six people had been shot, but upped the number by one on Thursday morning.
Officers found one person dead and at least two others critically injured at the scene. Three other people who were wounded were taken to area hospitals by citizens or in some of the five ambulances that responded, police said. One victim was dropped off at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale with chest and stomach wounds, according to scanner reports.
Police set up a broad perimeter and were looking for suspects, possibly in a vehicle that fled the scene, which is near North Commons Park. As midnight approached, they fanned out across the neighborhood to interview residents, conducting extensive interviews with at least 10 witnesses, Kjos said.
Other witnesses left the scene just after the shooting after refusing to talk to officers.
