Two men were shot and killed Saturday in an apartment building in Minneapolis’ Loring Park neighborhood following a fight with a third man that escalated into gunfire, police said.
Police were called to the Loring Towers apartment building at 15 E. Grant St. just before 2 p.m. Saturday, according to Police Chief Brian O’Hara. When officers arrived, they found one man dead inside the front lobby and another man dead in the second floor hallway. Both had shotgun wounds.
An officer found the suspect at the scene and arrested him without incident, according to O’Hara. A shotgun and shells were recovered, he said.
All three men lived in the building and apparently knew each other, O’Hara told reporters at the scene shortly after the shooting.
“This is not something related to street crime or violence, so much of which we’ve been experiencing lately in the community,” he said. “This appears to be an argument that escalated and someone had access to a shotgun and settled it.”
Apartment residents were unable to leave the building for a time, because the front lobby was a crime scene and they couldn’t unlock the back door. “We know that all of the dozens of residents of this building have been affected,” O’Hara said.
“While today’s event is not random, it is still yet another painful reminder of how quickly arguments can turn deadly when guns are involved,” the chief added.
Saturday’s double homicide was the latest in a wave of shootings in Minneapolis in the last few weeks, the most prominent of which was the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in August. O’Hara acknowledged that it was difficult to handle so many cases in such a short period, “but we will get through this.”
