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Crime, Law and Justice
Nicole Ki
Minneapolis

Another shooting at a Minneapolis homeless encampment; 2 dead, 1 injured

Police Chief Brian O'Hara.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara talks to a group of people who support the city’s decision to evict the encampment the recently relocated Camp Nenookaasi encampment in the East Phillips neighborhood on Feb. 1.
Tim Evans for MPR News

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Another shooting at a homeless encampment in south Minneapolis has left two people dead and one person in critical condition.

At around 2:20 p.m. on Sunday, the Minneapolis Police Department responded to a shooting at a small encampment located on the 4400 block of Hiawatha Avenue near the railroad tracks. Police chief Brian O’Hara told reporters on Sunday evening that two men were found with gunshot wounds to the head inside the encampment.

They were pronounced dead after officers provided medical care. A third person suffered gunshot wounds and was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries.

“This part of the city has the greatest concentration of homeless encampments, so it remains a very serious public safety issue, not a safe place for folks who are here, and also a significant place raising significant public concerns for residents,” said O’Hara.

This comes a day after a shooting at a different homeless encampment. On Saturday, one man was killed and two people were critically injured near the corner of 21st Street and 15th Avenue South. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner identified the man who died on Saturday as 31-year-old Deven Leonard Caston.

vehicles and tents
Police vehicles at the scene of a shooting at a homeless encampment in Minneapolis on Sunday.
Nicole Ki | MPR News

After Sunday’s shooting, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey spoke out for change.

“This is another incredibly tragic and sad situation where more of our residents, more of our city members, neighbors have been killed,” Frey said. “And it’s not a coincidence that this has happened at an encampment. We have seen a significant increase in both homicides and shootings, specifically around encampments. And notably there are areas of the city — even areas of the city that have traditionally had higher crime rates — where crime has dropped that don’t have encampments.”

Both Frey and O’Hara said fentanyl is driving homelessness in Minneapolis.

“This is not about a lack of shelter,” Frey said. “It’s about fentanyl. It is about a drug that takes a hold of your body and your mind like nothing that we've ever seen before.”