Stray bullet hits boy, 3, in the head in Mpls. home

Police have no suspects and believe the residents of the house weren't the targets of the shots. The toddler is gravely wounded.

December 27, 2011 at 6:41PM

A stray bullet struck a toddler in the head Monday evening inside a house in the Hawthorne neighborhood of Minneapolis, leaving him with life-threatening injuries, police said.

The bullet that hit the 3-year-old boy came from outside the home, but there was no evidence that people inside had been targeted, said Sgt. Steve McCarty, a police department spokesman.

The city's ShotSpotter system notified police of shots fired in the 2600 block of Colfax Avenue N. at 6:50 p.m., said McCarty. Officers found the child in the home with adults. He was rushed to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale.

No suspects were in custody late Monday. Police asked anyone with information to call the department's TIPS line at 612-692-TIPS (8477).

There will be a news conference at 2 p.m. today at the intersection of 27th and Colfax Avenues North with representatives from the mayor's office, Crime Stoppers, the Minneapolis Police and other community stakeholders.

The city's ShotSpotter system frequently records the sound of gunfire in the area near Monday night's shooting, according to police crime maps. The shooting occurred three blocks west of Farview Park, where gunfire is reported nearly every week and, where, less often, shootings occur.

It's not the first time a child in Minneapolis has been struck by a stray bullet. In 2002, Tyesha Edwards, 11, was killed by one. And many children have been injured.

In summer 2005, the Star Tribune documented the accidental shootings of five children in Minneapolis in less than two months. None was killed.

Matt McKinney • 612-217-1747

about the writer

about the writer

Matt McKinney

Reporter

Matt McKinney writes about his hometown of Stillwater and the rest of Washington County for the Star Tribune's suburbs team. 

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