A 23-year-old Minneapolis man was in jail Friday on suspicion of murder in the shooting death the night before of another man who allegedly broke into his house.
Police say the homeowner shot the would-be burglar once, incapacitating him, inside his home in the 1100 block of N. Irving Avenue and then fired the second, fatal shot into the back of the man's head.
The homeowner was booked into the Hennepin County jail, where he remained held without bail on Friday afternoon. The Star Tribune generally does not name suspects until charges are filed.
The victim was taken to HCMC in downtown Minneapolis, where he died a short time later, said MPD spokeswoman Cyndi Barrington. His name had not been released as of Friday. His death was the city's 60th homicide of 2020 — the single highest tally of any year since the 83 slayings in 1996.
Police were summoned to the house just before 11 p.m. Thursday when the homeowner called 911 to report he had shot a man who broke into his house, according to a signed search warrant affidavit. Officers arrived to find the victim lying in the kitchen with a hatchet in his hand, it said.
Detectives learned that the homeowner had been in bed with his wife and their baby when the other man appeared in their doorway, holding a hatchet, the affidavit says. The homeowner said he recognized the man as someone he used to sell marijuana to, and a struggle ensued, according to the affidavit.
At one point, the homeowner instructed his wife to retrieve his gun, police said, and he shot the other man in the torso. The suspect told police that after the initial shooting that he had demanded that the suspect leave his house, but the man told him that he couldn't feel his legs and was bleeding out and begged the suspect to kill him, the affidavit said. The suspect said he shot the man and put the hatchet back into his hands and went to hide his marijuana before calling 911, the affidavit said.
He was arrested Friday morning.
Thursday's shooting came amid a spike in violence in Minneapolis this year, and only hours after a City Council committee approved a blueprint plan for the city's Office of Violence Prevention.
