Man, 6-year-old in critical condition after Minneapolis shooting; calls grow for increased public safety efforts

Minneapolis police said a man and a girl are in critical condition after a shooting just before midnight Tuesday.

Tuesday morning, Minneapolis police reported a man with gunshot wounds was brought to North Memorial Medical Center at 11:14 p.m. Two minutes later, a girl was brought to Hennepin Healthcare.

Investigators learned that the man and girl appeared to have been hurt in the same incident.

A preliminary investigation indicated shots were fired just before 11 p.m. along the 3500 block of Penn Avenue North. The man, who was walking, was hit by the gunfire, police said. Meanwhile, a vehicle in which the girl was riding was also struck by gunfire and subsequently, she was hit by a bullet, police said.

Police said both individuals remain in critical condition at each hospital. Police added no arrests have yet been made.

Well-known community activist Kay G. Wilson posted on social media, identifying the girl as his 6-year-old granddaughter. Just hours before the shooting, Wilson was speaking out about another child shot in north Minneapolis. Police had previously identified the girl as being a preteen.

Family holds on close to balloons for 6 year-old girl wounded in North Minneapolis shooting. She’s the granddaughter of a well known community activist. pic.twitter.com/7huTGmJagW

— Eric Chaloux (@EricChalouxKSTP) May 18, 2021

The girl is the third child shot in the city in a little more than two weeks and comes just hours after community leaders gathered Monday to say the violence needs to stop.

"I’m hurt, I’m heartbroken, but I’m upset, I’m angry, a new kind of anger, that I have to fight," Wilson told KSTP. "I just want this person to turn themselves in. He, she, they — whoever they are, somebody knows else knows who they are. If you knew her, you’d love her."

Mayor Jacob Frey put forth a new plan to address this.

Minneapolis mayor introduces plan for dealing with uptick in violence

"The ultimate goal of this continued push right now is to make all Minneapolis neighborhoods safer whether you’re on the north side or the south side," Frey said. "Families need to feel safe. Parents need to feel safe sending their kid out on the sidewalk to play and recreate."

According to Minneapolis police, the city has had 27 homicides so far this year. Frey outlined some immediate steps to fight violent crime including help from county, state and federal law enforcement.

Also, city officials plan to put millions of dollars into a safety fund for crime prevention and create a new task force that will focus on problem areas.

People who live in the affected communities say something needs to be done quickly.

"We have to cut the games out, because our babies are dying," Sondra Samuels, of the nonprofit Northside Achievement Zone, said.

"We can get this done together. We need our police," Pastor Jalilia Brown, of Shiloh Temple, said. "I am going to say it again, we need our police. The teams that are out there, they are great outreach teams, but they have not been trained to handle criminals. We need our police officers and I believe that together we can be Minneapolis strong."

The message from the mayor and community members is clear: Enough is enough. Currently, changes are part a of city proposal and there is no timeline for when all of that could happen.