Woman fatally shot inside parked camper in north Minneapolis

Gunfire from a vehicle hit and killed a woman inside a parked recreational vehicle Tuesday morning on a north Minneapolis residential street, authorities said.

A man also in the pickup-style camper was not wounded, and police are asking for the public's help in finding whoever is responsible for the gunfire about 9:50 a.m. on Girard Avenue N. just north of Plymouth Avenue.

Police have yet to address a motive but said they do not believe that the shooting was random in nature. No arrests have been made, and police have not released any information about the vehicle that fled the scene.

The man and a woman "heard the gunshots," said officer Garrett Parten, a police spokesman. "The female inside the RV felt the pain and realized she was shot, and they called 911 at that point."

A police report with the barest of information listed the woman's age as 42. Her identity has yet to be released.

Craig Lee, who lives and mows lawns in the neighborhood, said he heard a commotion coming from near the RV shortly before there was gunfire.

Lee said the RV "has been sitting there for about a week" and didn't appear to have been moved during that time.

Lee said he at times he saw a man "taking stuff in and out, in and out and in." He said he never saw a woman associated with the 43-year-old RV.

The woman's body remained on the ground, covered with a sheet next to the open passenger door as police collected evidence and interviewed witnesses. At the same time, a man inside the police tape appeared to be distraught and at one point held a plastic chair over his head as he walked around.

He became troubled to the point that several officers took him to the pavement on Girard and handcuffed him. He was soon brought to his feet and seated as a chaplain stood nearby. Several minutes later, an ambulance arrived for him to be taken from the scene for a a further evaluation.

Police did not say whether he was the man who was in the RV with the woman when he was shot. The police identified a 39-year-old Minneapolis man being at the scene and listed him as "Involved #1."

However, Lisa Clemons of the citizen response group A Mother's Love said the man who broke down at the scene was in the RV next to the woman when she was killed. The two lived in the vehicle, and beyond the trauma of seeing his companion die, he was afraid police were going to take the RV.

At one point, Clemons said, he put a sharp object to his neck before the officers appeared to use a Taser on him and took him to the ground. She kept watch to ensure the officers did not kneel on him or otherwise harm him.

Once he was settled in a chair, someone got him iced tea and a cold towel, and neighbors kept him calm until an ambulance arrived. She said the man had already been stabbed earlier in the week.

"He was so hurt, so distraught, and he did not deserve to have someone sitting in what is his home be murdered."

There have been 43 homicides in Minneapolis this year and six so far this month, according to a Star Tribune database. There were 42 at this time in the city last year.

"While we don't know the nature of the relationship at this point [between any suspects and the woman] or what exactly transpired," Parten said, "we want to continue our message that there is a better way to deal with disputes. ... We're asking people [to] please stop the gun violence."

"It's sad, really sad," Littlejohn said as he looked on. "We all get together and talk about it and talk about it, and it doesn't do any good to talk about it. We've got to figure out something to do about it. It seems like it's gonna take a lot more than the people that are talking about it. We've got to start coming with some action."