Crime, Law and Justice

One man dead, two others injured after shooting at a Minneapolis encampment

Street sign with gold-leaved trees in background
Three men were shot and critically injured at a small encampment near this Minneapolis intersection on Saturday.
Feven Gerezgiher | MPR News

A man is dead and two others in critical condition following an early morning shooting at a small Minneapolis encampment on Saturday.

The three men were in a residential area just southwest of Franklin and Bloomington Avenues on the city’s south side when three other individuals approached them around 4:30 a.m. and a shooting occurred, according to Minneapolis police.

Police have yet to identify those individuals or their motives.

Officers were called to the scene shortly after and found the three victims with life-threatening injuries. They were transported to the hospital, where one later died.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said all three victims are “at-risk” people known to police — meaning they have been victims, witnesses to crime, or involved in crime in the past.

About 13 percent of all crime in the 3rd precinct of Minneapolis occurs within 500 feet of homeless encampments, O’Hara said. He added that nearly a quarter of shooting victims this year have also been in close proximity to encampments.  

“This is an ongoing issue with encampments and just all of the activity that’s associated with it,” he said. “As soon as one encampment is cleared, another one pops up somewhere else, and crime in the area immediately raises.

“It’s a really, really, just frustrating and ongoing problem for the residents that live here. And it just goes to show, there’s issues, whether they’re large or small, there’s safety issues and they’re just they’re not humane places for people to be.”