Two shootings in downtown Minneapolis overnight left six people hit, with three reported to have suffered life-threatening injuries.
Minneapolis Police Department spokesperson Garrett Parten said the first shooting was reported at 2:33 a.m. Saturday on the 400 Block of Hennepin Ave. South, near the Gay 90's nightclub. Officers near there heard automatic gunfire, responding to find a man in his 20s lying on a surface parking lot with life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Parten said the nearby crowd was uncooperative and aggressive at the scene, leading officers to request backup. Squads from all five police precincts, including the Metro Transit Police, responded to help preserve the crime scene until emergency workers transported the injured man to the Hennepin County Medical Center.
Minutes later there was another shooting reported near South 8th Street and Hennepin that police say may have struck five people. One, an adult male in his 30s, was found with possibly life-threatening gunshot wounds. Nearby, officers also located an adult female in her late 20s with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound and an adult male in his 50s with potentially life-threatening gunshot wounds.
All five people were transported to the Hennepin County Medical Center.
As police processed that scene, a woman and man in their 20s showed up at North Memorial Medical Center in separate passenger vehicles. Both had gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening.
"It is unknown if these two shootings are related. Any possible connection will be considered by investigators," Parten stated in an email.
The police department collected video evidence and are investigating. No arrests have been made for either shooting.
