Police: Gunfire erupts on same Uptown block where man shot dead 2 days earlier

Shaun Johnson arrived home just after dusk Sunday, as tenants streamed out of his Uptown apartment complex amid the howl of a fire alarm. When he rushed upstairs to check on his family, he found his fiancée and 8-year-old son lying face down on the floor, still shielding themselves from a barrage of gunfire.

Minutes earlier, a bullet pierced the door to their balcony and whizzed into a nearby wall. Shattered glass covered the living room.

A shootout that night sent dozens of rounds into buildings and vehicles on the 2900 block of S. Fremont Avenue — the same block where a 21-year-old man was killed two days earlier. Police noted that there appeared to be a memorial gathering related to Friday night's homicide when the shots rang out. Investigators are working to determine whether the shooting is related to the homicide.

"Uptown has really changed a lot. I don't understand what's going on," said Johnson, a 42-year-old retail worker. "My fiancée is so shook up, she doesn't even want to go back in that area."

At least two gunmen opened fire around 9 p.m., striking nearby windows and a fire sprinkler in a vacant unit of the Uptown Lake Apartments, flooding more than a dozen apartments. Water seeped into Johnson's fourth floor unit, damaging his son's new mattress and several boxes of belongings they had yet to unpack after moving in a few weeks ago.

His family is among the 20 people who are now displaced and searching for housing as a result of the shooting. Johnson spent the first night in a hotel, but that can pose a financial burden for those expected to pay out of pocket until they're reimbursed by renter's insurance.

"We're trying to find different resources until we can get some help," he said.

The shots are believed to have been fired from a vehicle and from someone on foot, Parten said.

No arrests have been made in the case as of Monday evening.

Zoë Jackson, a Star Tribune news reporter, was among a throng of people outside the Lagoon Theatre after a movie when she heard 10 to 20 shots in rapid succession, sending the crowd scattering behind the building.

Minutes later, as they contemplated what to do, Jackson heard five to 10 more shots about a half a block away.

"At first, we thought it might be a car backfiring," said Anna Boone, a Star Tribune digital designer who was with Jackson on Sunday night, "but after it continued for longer than a couple bangs, the crowd began running to around the back of the theater."

MPD has added extra patrols to beef up security in the area and is vowing to work with other law enforcement agencies on focused enforcement details, Parten said.

Meanwhile, investigators are continuing to look for the suspect who shot and killed the 21-year-old man in the same block Friday night.

Vintrez Lamont Johnson, of Minneapolis, was shot several times shortly before 9 p.m., the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office said. Johnson — who is not related to the tenant Shaun Johnson — died 30 minutes later at HCMC.

Officers who responded to reports of gunfire found Johnson mortally wounded and observed that a building and a vehicle had been hit by bullets, supporting the belief that Johnson was shot outdoors.

Council Member Aisha Chughtai, whose 10th Ward includes Uptown, said she is working with newly appointed Fifth Precinct Inspector Christie Nelson to meet with the property management company involved.