2 dead, 1 seriously injured following 2nd fatal encampment shooting in as many days
UPDATE 10/28 at 4:16 p.m.: The victims in Sunday’s shooting have been identified as 32-year-old Louis Mitchell Lemons Jr., of Brooklyn Center, and 38-year-old Christopher Martell Washington, of Fridley.
Two people are dead and one is in critical condition following a shooting at a homeless encampment in Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon.
Three people were detained in connection with the incident, which happened around 2:30 p.m. near 44th Street and Snelling Avenue. Police say they’re not suspects but were detained for questioning.
A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS photographer on the scene captured the following images.
The identity of the victims has not yet been released.
During a press conference on Sunday evening, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the victims were found on the ground inside of the encampment with gunshot wounds to the head. The third victim was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Chief O’Hara says wherever homeless encampments are set up, violence and drugs are sure to follow. “Almost one-fourth of all shooting incidents, shooting victims in the 3rd Precinct, happen within 500 feet of a homeless encampment,” O’Hara said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also spoke, blaming fentanyl for violence in encampments.
“This is not about a lack of shelter. It’s not even, most of the time, about a lack of housing. The issues that we’re seeing in terms of crime and violence, it’s about fentanyl,” Mayor Frey said.
The mayor also pointed at some members of the city council, who he says are compounding the problem with inaction, saying, “The primary driving issue here is fentanyl. We’ve had council members and activists try to prevent these homeless encampments from being closed. That makes it all the harder to get the necessary resources needed to close them.”
The shooting comes after one person was fatally shot and two were injured at a small sidewalk encampment along 15th Avenue South early Saturday morning.
Chief O’Hara said it’s unclear if Saturday and Sunday’s shootings are connected.
Watch a video of the press conference in full below.