Two mass shootings on Monday, Sept. 15, left at least 13 people wounded at Minneapolis homeless encampments, five of them in critical condition, authorities said.
“This is tragic. It’s horrible. It’s unacceptable, and, sadly, it’s not surprising,” Mayor Jacob Frey said at a news conference early Tuesday, ABC News reports.
The first shooting happened just after 11 a.m. near an encampment on East Lake Street and Interstate 35W, according to the Star Tribune.
Dozens of rounds were fired in an area where a “high volume” of people were “congregating,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a press conference, Alpha News reports.
Four adult males who were shot were rushed to local hospitals. Two victims were found in the nearby Metro Transit tower, and two were located on a pathway leading to the Midtown Greenway, Alpha News reports.
One of the victims is in life-threatening condition, O’Hara said, according to ABC News.
A fifth victim had a graze wound but refused medical treatment.
Investigators think that someone at the encampment fired back at the shooter, O’Hara said.
Hours later, around 10 p.m., police responded to a second shooting at a different encampment two miles away.
Eight people were shot at the encampment on South 28th Avenue and East Lake Street in the southeast part of the city, O’Hara said.
No suspects have been arrested yet. Authorities are investigating whether the two incidents are connected.
“While the investigation is still very, very preliminary, that is certainly something that we can’t rule out, and, of course, it’s something that we are considering,” O’Hara said. “We don’t know for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”
These mass shootings are the third and fourth in the city over the past three weeks.
“Here we are yet again in the aftermath of a mass shooting. This is not normal,” O’Hara said, ABC News reports.
On Aug. 27, two children were killed and 21 people were injured when a gunman shot through the windows of a church at the Annunciation Catholic School.
One day earlier, seven people were wounded and one person was killed when gunfire erupted at East Lake Street and Clinton Avenue, Alpha News reports.
