A police evidence technician worked the scene of a shooting earlier this year. (AARON LAVINSKY/STAR TRIBUNE)
The gun violence that has plagued parts of Minneapolis this year struck again over the weekend as at least 13 people were shot, one fatally, in separate incidents across the city, according to police and scanner reports.
As homicide detectives continued their investigation into the slaying of a 28-year-old city man in the North Side's Jordan neighborhood late Friday, police worked to search for clues in the shooting of five people the following night.
The five victims — three males, aged 21, 20, and 21, and two females, aged 21 and 51 — were shot at the Plymouth Avenue Townhomes, in the 1700 block of Plymouth Avenue N., police said. None of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening. The shooting occurred about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, less than 24 hours after another shooting near the same townhouse complex.
No arrests have been announced in the shooting. According to scanner traffic, witnesses reported seeing a suspect, who described as a man with a thin build, buzz haircut and wearing a white T-shirt, fleeing westbound on Plymouth moments after gunfire erupted. Officers on the scene told dispatchers that the "mouth of the alley" behind the complex was littered with spent 9mm and .45-caliber shell casings.
Between Friday and Sunday night, at least seven other people were shot:
- -A 39-year-old Minneapolis man was wounded about 4:30 a.m. Friday when he was robbed at gunpoint by a masked man who then shot him, near the corner of S. 28th Avenue and E. Lake Street.
- -Another city man, 27, walked into the emergency room at Hennepin County Medical Center with a gunshot wound, telling police that he was shot in south Minneapolis, before changing his story and saying that the shooting happened in the area of N. Lyndale and 40th avenues; he later admitted to lying to officers because he had two outstanding warrants and was arrested.
- -A 26-year-old Benson, Minn. was shot in the arm when gunfire broke out about 1:10 a.m. Saturday in the area of N. Knox and Plymouth avenues, near the Plymouth Avenue Townhomes complex.
- -A St. Paul man managed to get himself to an area hospital, where he was in stable condition, after being wounded in a suspected shootout just before 7 p.m. Saturday in the 2300 block of James Avenue N.
- -Sometime before midnight on Saturday, officers responding to a shots fired call in the 2700 block of Girard Avenue N. found a victim who had been shot in the hand, according to scanner reports.
- -On Monday morning, emergency dispatchers reported that a victim showed up at Unity Hospital with gunshot wounds from a shooting the previous night in 3900 block of Colfax Avenue N., which also left a woman wounded.
Police on Monday were still looking for leads in the death of Jaquan Oatis, 28, of Minneapolis, who was shot multiple times on the sidewalk outside a house in the 2900 block of Morgan Avenue N. He died at the scene.
No motive for the killing has been clearly revealed.
His death was the third of the city's four homicides last week. According to scanner reports, witnesses saw several vehicles fleeing the area shortly after 11 rounds were detected by the city's ShotSpotter network, which uses sensors to pick up the sound of gunfire.
No one has been arrested.
