Boy, 16, shot to death in north Minneapolis

A 16-year-old boy lay shot to death on a north Minneapolis street Monday night. His mother was on the asphalt behind yellow police tape, keening and rocking. Dozens of family members and neighbors -- from children to grandchildren -- bore witness.

"I want my son," the victim's mother sobbed.

Police Sgt. Steve McCarty said officers were called to the intersection of 30th and Dupont Avs. N. about 7:30 p.m. on a shooting. The teenager died where he fell.

The victim's sister said her brother had been shot in the leg just a week ago. He was walking home with friends when he was shot.

McCarty said there was no suspect information available Monday night. He urged anyone with information to call police.

Police didn't say whether Monday's shooting might have been related to the North Side shooting deaths of Quantell Braxton, 14, on Aug. 20 and Ray'Jon Gomez, 13, on Aug. 24, police said. Those homicides have not been solved.

A trio of men who try to keep their community safe -- V.J. Smith of MAD DADS, the Rev. Jerry McAfee of New Salem Baptist Church and City Council Member Don Samuels -- in turn tried to comfort the grieving and to instill courage in those who know what happened.

"If this was happening in another community, we'd put resources to it," Smith said. "We need resources now. We're trying to do something with nothing. We've got to find some sort of way to ... calm this down.

"We're working. It's not like we're not working. We're saving lives. If we weren't working, there'd be many more deaths, but still we don't have enough resources. Everybody's had to lay off people. Everybody's had their budgets cut. That means that we can't do the work the way we want to do it. Something's got to change."

Another man at the scene said it's time for police to put a designated squad car on every block, for officers to start walking the beat.

Pat Pheifer • 612-673-7252