A gun battle in the early morning hours in the Warehouse District of downtown Minneapolis ended with one man wounded, five people arrested and three guns confiscated by police.

The incident happened shortly before 3 a.m. on N. 3rd Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues N. Officers on foot, monitoring the downtown bar closings, heard numerous shots fired. Officers found the man with noncritical injuries; he refused to provide information. A handgun was found under a car next to the man. Bullet casings were found on both sides of the street.

After interviewing people at the scene, one suspect vehicle was stopped while still downtown. A person in the car was wearing an empty holster and officers found a gun under a parked car nearby. Three people in that vehicle were arrested.

A second vehicle with a window shot out was stopped on Interstate 94; the occupants said they were coming from downtown. A third handgun was found in the car, and two more people were arrested.

The entire incident lasted 27 minutes, police spokesman John Elder said.

A gun battle on Sept. 12 in downtown Minneapolis, on 5th Street near Hennepin Avenue, wounded six people. Three people have been charged in that attack.

"It's more than we want," Elder said Sunday. "It doesn't matter the number of cops we have. When we had the six people shot, there were 18 cops on that block.

"We're doing everything we can to address this and stay on top of it," he said. "Our officers were literally right on top of it last night."

PAT PHEIFER