Teen attending birthday party fatally shot in north Minneapolis home

A teenage boy attending a birthday party at a north Minneapolis home Sunday night was shot dead, and another teen is believed to have pulled the trigger.

Authorities have not identified the teen who died, but a family member identified him as Aundre Loyd, 15.

“He was a good kid,” his aunt Patricia Clinton told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “He wanted to play basketball.”

Family members posted a photo of Aundre, who was also known as “Baby Dre” and “Lil Dre,” showing he attended Sojourner Truth Academy in Minneapolis and earned his eighth-grade diploma this year.

“Baby Dre was an outgoing loving son, nephew, cousin,” Clinton wrote on Facebook.

Preliminary information indicates several people were celebrating a birthday in the basement of a residence in the 2900 block of Russell Avenue N. when a firearm discharged, said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

The victim was struck once, killing him at the scene, O’Hara said.

“Our thoughts are with the family of this young person,” O’Hara said. “We are working to determine exactly the circumstances of what occurred, and bring whoever is responsible to justice if this is a homicide.”

Officers were called to the residence around 10:50 p.m. on a report that the victim suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Police later learned the victim may have been shot by another teen. A person of interest, also a teen boy, was taken into custody, O’Hara said.

That juvenile was later booked into the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center on probable cause for murder, police said.