Three Mpls. shootings, 2 downtown after bars close, leave 8 wounded

Gunfire erupted twice a few blocks apart early Sunday after bar closing time in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, and five people were wounded, authorities said.

One person has "very serious" injuries, according to police.

And a third outburst of late-night gunfire about 1½ miles north of downtown Minneapolis left three people wounded, police said.

None of the shootings appears to be random in nature, and there have been no arrests, police added.

According to police:

At 2:07 a.m., officers on foot patrol near N. 4th Street and Hennepin Avenue heard gunshots. They saw a crowd of people running from the area.

Officers located two men with gunshot wounds. The two were transported to Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), one with "very serious" injuries and one with noncritical injuries, said police spokesman John Elder.

Several minutes later, officers were notified that another man had just arrived from the second shooting scene at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale in a private vehicle with a noncritical gunshot wound.

"At this time it is too early to determine if these incidents are associated with one another," Elder said.

Shortly after 2:15 a.m., two privately owned cars pulled into North Memorial with two men and a boy suffering from gunshot wounds. Two of the three had noncritical injuries, but one was very seriously wounded.

The ShotSpotter activation system pointed authorities to the area of Broadway and N. 4th Street, and preliminary investigation by police indicates that this is where this shooting occurred.

Authorities are investigating the shootings and looking through nearby video and surveillance footage.