Authorities arrested a 34-year-old man Thursday in connection with the fatal shootings of three people in South Minneapolis, and the city’s police chief said it’s likely another person was killed the next day in retaliation.
Police have said that the four people killed and two others seriously wounded in the multiple shootings were Native American, and authorities strongly suspect the shootings were gang-related. However, Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference Thursday that authorities are still investigating the motives behind the shootings.
The shootings shook a large Indigenous community south of downtown Minneapolis. A 20-year-old woman, a 17-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man were killed in Tuesday’s shootings in the 1500 block of East 25th Street, and a 28-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. A 30-year-old man died in Wednesday’s shooting in the 2100 block of Cedar Avenue South.
The first shooting took place just before midnight Tuesday. O’Hara said it’s “entirely probable” that the second shooting with a single victim was a response to the three deaths, and he said someone else was responsible. It occurred about 1 p.m. Wednesday a little more than a mile to the northeast outside an apartment building housing the Minneapolis offices of the Red Lake Nation tribe.
“But beyond that, I can’t speculate further about some ongoing beef,” O’Hara said.
The police chief said investigators believe the shootings are gang related based on the “lived experience” of the people in the area.
The U.S. Marshals Service said its local fugitive task force and an FBI SWAT team arrested the suspect Thursday afternoon. He was being held in the Hennepin County jail and had not been charged as of Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, police are investigating a fifth homicide that occurred within 24 hours. Shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday, officers were alerted to gunfire in the 3000 block of 15th Avenue South. A man in his 50s was found with life-threatening gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The violence shattered a relative peace in Minneapolis. The city recently went two months without a homicide until a man was shot to death April 19. It was the city’s longest period without a homicide in a decade, according to police.
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