MPD chief condemns violent weekend in Minneapolis: 5 shootings, 3 homicides since Saturday

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara spoke out Sunday against a spike in violent crime over the past few days that totaled three homicides nine shootings.

Overall, O’Hara said there were five shootings and one stabbing since Saturday evening. The victims of the stabbing and two of the shootings died from their injuries, and those incidents are now being investigated as homicides:

• At 7:13 p.m. Saturday, a 20-year-old man was walking with a group on the 2600 block of Third Avenue South when he was shot. He was taken to the hospital and later died.
• Around 1:13 a.m. Sunday, police responded to a ShotSpotter activation near the intersection of Penn and Lowry avenues in north Minneapolis. A 45-year-old man was treated for life-threatening shooting injuries but later died at the hospital.
• At 3:13 a.m. Sunday, a 31-year-old man was stabbed multiple times at a house party near the 3400 block of Penn Avenue North and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

He also listed four other shootings that happened on Thursday and Friday.

The chief pleaded for the city to hire more officers to investigate the crimes and said he enlisted the help of other agencies such as the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.

“This again just highlights the seriousness around the problem that we have with staffing in the city,” O’Hara said in a news conference. “And when we have a number of murders that happen in a close period of time, we have a number of serious crimes happen, I’m thankful that we have law enforcement partners to call upon to help us.”

O’Hara said MPD is increasing patrols in certain crime hotspots, particularly along Penn Avenue in north Minneapolis.