By Liz Sawyer
Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS — A shootout at a private homeless encampment in south Minneapolis late Monday night left eight people injured, four critically, less than 12 hours after another mass shooting on the city’s South Side.
The gunfire erupted around 10 p.m. near Lake Street and 28th Avenue S, police said. An off-duty officer working at a nearby Target store was approached by several people running from a torrent of bullets a few blocks away.
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Responding officers found five victims inside the encampment, including a man and a woman gravely wounded in their respective tents from a shot to the head. Another man was struck in the stomach.
Three more self-transported to area hospitals, including one man with gunshot wounds to the neck and torso.
Investigators collected approximately 30 shell casings from the crime scene, but noted there might be more hidden amid a dense layer of debris. Evidence suggests there was an exchange of gunfire between at least two people. A fire broke out in one of the tents as police were processing the site, requiring intervention from the fire department.
The shooting occurred at the private encampment set up by prominent Minneapolis landlord Hamoudi Sabri, in a parking lot behind a vacant building he owns on E. Lake Street , city officials said. Sabri has been in a battle with the city for months to keep the encampment open — ignoring $15,000 in citations and daring them to get a court order.
Just last week, the City Council voted to sue Sabri for creating a public health nuisance.
“This is a whole lot worse than a nuisance,” an exasperated Mayor Jacob Frey said during an overnight news conference. “This is a danger to the community. They deserve better.”
Frey, flanked by Police Chief Brian O’Hara, said he had not talked to Sabri following the shooting. But he vowed to have the encampment cleared as soon as the scene was fully processed by the crime lab Tuesday morning.
“We’re shutting this thing down,” Frey said. “If he wants to sue us, he can.”
At about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, a crowd of about 50 former encampment residents and protesters gathered outside the police tape as city workers cleared the encampment, placing bicycles, other belongings and debris in the back of a garbage truck.
Several people argued with police officers on scene, saying they wanted to go back in to retrieve their items. Police told them it wasn’t their decision and the city ordered them to close it.
Sabri opened his own land to the homeless in July after growing frustrated with the city’s homeless dispersal tactics, which he says have driven people struggling with mental illness and addiction from one hideaway to another.
Dozens of people have since moved in, including many struggling with active drug addiction. The parking lot has no running water or toilets, so people are relieving themselves in the entryways of nearby buildings.
Despite repeated interventions by regulatory services workers — and some complaints from neighboring business owners — Sabri refused to clear the property. Earlier this month, he seemed to relish the idea of a legal challenge.
“Listen, I’m not scared,” he said. “My crime is I’m helping homeless people who need help.”
Monday’s shooting capped a particularly violent 48-hour stretch in Minneapolis, where gunfire killed two and wounded at least 15 others throughout the city.
“This is not normal,” O’Hara told reporters, lamenting the compounding community trauma from a slate of back-to-back shootings. “People need to know we are not going to quit. We’re going to continue to do everything that we possibly can to hold these folks accountable.”
Earlier Monday morning, just after 11 a.m., five people were shot and injured on Stevens Avenue near the Midtown Greenway and Lake Street transit station.
One victim was rushed to HCMC with serious injuries after he was struck in the head and neck area, police said. Three others were hospitalized with noncritical injuries, and one graze victim declined medical treatment.
Preliminary information indicated shots were fired from near the Greenway, but more gunfire was suspected to have come from the adjacent highway ramp.
Homeless encampments have occasionally cropped up there, with at least three shootings occurring nearby over the last month.
O’Hara had advocated that the city take “immediate action” to close the walkway. Frey later directed city staff to temporarily fence off the area.
It is not clear if the shootings are related. Both incidents appeared to target the homeless — or spots where vulnerable individuals gather — so authorities have yet to rule it out.
No arrests had been made in either case as of late Monday night.
State troopers are expected to help patrol Lake Street this week. The city has also requested additional resources from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
As midnight drew near, a rotating cast of onlookers approached the yellow crime tape and began livestreaming as forensic analysts combed the street with flashlights for shell casings.
“Didn’t we already do this today?” Steve Christen, a nearby resident, asked no one in particular.
Christen said he was sitting outside when he heard a barrage of about 20 shots pierce the night air. Seconds later, another volley erupted — even closer to his Longfellow neighborhood home.
Christen rushed inside, instructing his family to hide until the bullets stopped. After police swarmed the area, they trekked down the street to assess the scene.
His 10-year-old son watched as dozens of red and blue police lights ricocheted off graffiti-covered buildings.
“He ain’t going to sleep anytime soon,” Christen said.
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