By Crime Watch MN
MINNEAPOLIS – A shooting at a south Minneapolis homeless encampment left one man dead Tuesday night. The homicide is just the latest in a string of violent incidents at the encampment, including another shooting just two weeks ago and a prior shooting in September.
Police were dispatched just after 5 p.m. Tuesday to the encampment on the 2300 block of 13th Avenue South in the Ventura Village neighborhood on a report of a shooting.
Minneapolis – SHOOTING inside the encampment.
E 23rd St and 13th Ave S
pssst, the very same encampment where there have been several shootings, shots, a dead baby, overdoses, mountains of trash, and stolen vehicles that was supposed to be evicted on Thursday, but city council… pic.twitter.com/plpPrXKX2U— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) December 12, 2023
Upon arrival, police quickly called for backup for crowd control and said that the person who was reported to be shot in the head was being carried out of the encampment by others, according to police dispatch audio during the incident.
Several squads arrived and entered the encampment to check for any other possible victims and to secure the crime scene. Encampment residents were cleared out of the camp and were eventually scuttled onto a Metro Transit bus to keep them out of the weather while the crime scene was processed.
Meanwhile, other officers indicated that they had detained a possible suspect about two blocks away and had reportedly recovered a firearm from the area where the suspect was detained.
The Minneapolis Police Department later released a statement saying that a 45-year-old man had died as a result of his injuries and that they were still investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
In October, a deceased fetus was recovered from inside the encampment that sits on a slice of city-owned property across from a community center. However, no public information about the circumstances of the death was released following the incident. There have also been several other reports of shots fired, overdoses, stolen vehicles, and complaints about piles of trash on the sidewalks surrounding the camp.
The camp had reportedly been scheduled for eviction this coming Thursday, but following a letter sent last week signed by eight Minneapolis City Council members to Mayor Jacob Frey urging him to postpone the eviction, the eviction was reportedly delayed until Dec. 19.
Earlier today, fellow council members and I collectively reached out to the Mayor in response to the eviction notice concerning Camp Nenookaasi. Our letter outlines three specific requests addressed to Mayor Jacob Frey: pic.twitter.com/OFFcuBMBbA
— Jamal Osman (@JamalOsmanMN) December 8, 2023
The eight council members had requested that the eviction be delayed until February in order to find alternate housing or accommodations for the nearly 200 residents inside the encampment.
Information wasn’t immediately available on whether the planned eviction will proceed on the 19th or possibly sooner due to the fatal shooting.
Alpha News will continue to follow developments on this story.
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
This story originally appeared at Alpha News and was reprinted with permission.
