MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – One person has died after reports of shots fired near the George Floyd Memorial in Minneapolis on Saturday.
Police say they received ShotSpotter reports along with 911 calls for two people who were shot in the area of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, the site of the George Floyd Memorial in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood.
Initially, officers were told by callers the victim would be brought to a barricade that blocks off the memorial from traffic. However, when police arrived, they say they learned the victims had been transported to a nearby hospital. Officers say they were also met with “interference” from people at the memorial.
At Hennepin County Medical Center, police learned a shooting victim, a man in his 30s, had arrived at the hospital but later died from their injuries. At the same time, police say the second victim never arrived at the hospital and has not yet been located.
So far, police say they’ve learned that the victim in the shooting had been involved in an argument with the shooter prior to shots being fired. The suspect then reportedly left the scene in a cream or light-colored Suburban, believed to be a 2005 to 2016 body style, headed northbound on Chicago Avenue. Police believe the Suburban was hit by gunfire during the incident.
They are asking anyone with information on the shooting to call the police department or CrimeStopper with information at 800-222-TIPS.
Minneapolis on Friday backtracked on its original push to defund the city’s police department in the wake of George Floyd’s police custody death after residents begged the city to hire more officers, citing longer response times and increased violent crime.
The City Council on Friday voted unanimously to approve $6.4 million in additional funding that police had requested.
The department says it only has 638 officers available to work — roughly 200 fewer than usual. An unprecedented number of officers quit or went on extended medical leave after Floyd’s death and the unrest that followed.
With new recruit classes, the city anticipates it will have 674 officers available at the end of the year, with another 28 in the hiring process, the Star Tribune reported
Days before the City Council vote, Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo promised to update the application process for police recruits to include questions about whether they have lived in Minneapolis, have degrees in criminology, social work, psychology or counseling, and whether they volunteer or participate in programs such as the Police Activities League.
Meanwhile, three City Council members have proposed replacing the police department with a public safety department that would include law enforcement and other services. Yes 4 Minneapolis, a coalition of local community groups, is also collecting signatures to try to get a similar proposal on the November ballot.
The Star Tribune reported the Yes 4 Minneapolis committee is being fueled by a half-million dollar grant from the Washington, D.C.-based group Open Society Policy Center, linked to billionaire George Soros.