3 dead, 3 injured in shootings at Minneapolis homeless encampments: 'Cold-blooded killing'
Minneapolis police are investigating back-to-back fatal shootings over the weekend involving a half-dozen people at two separate homeless encampments in the city.
As of Monday, no arrests had been made in the shootings that left a combined three people dead and a fourth person clinging to life. Meanwhile, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey tied the shooting and other recent violence at encampments to the drug fentanyl.
The Minneapolis Police Department reported the first shooting took place Saturday just before 4:45 a.m., at a homeless encampment about two miles southeast of downtown.
At the scene, the agency wrote in a release, officers located three men injured by gunfire. The victims were transported to a local hospital where one of the men, age 31, died, police said. On Monday, police Sgt. Garrett Parten told Paste BN the other two victims' conditions were not immediately known.
Homicide investigators said they were investigating what led up to the shooting, including the possibility that three suspects who left the scene on foot. Investigators were also working to determine "what connection the three injured men had with the encampment," police wrote in a release.
As of Monday morning, the suspects had not been located.
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Three more shot inside tent, 2 die at scene
The second shooting took place the next day in broad daylight at another encampment along railroad tracks five miles southeast of downtown, police said. That camp is about three-and-half miles southeast of the scene of the first triple shooting.
During that shooting, which took place about 2:20 p.m., unknown suspects shot three people in the camp − two men and one woman. The men, age 32 and 38, were both pronounced dead at the scene. Parten said the woman was taken to a hospital to be treated for life-threatening injuries.
On Sunday, police announced three people were detained after the second shooting, but were later cleared and released. They did not elaborate.
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Victims' identities not yet known
Police said they have not ruled out the possibility both shootings are related, and said the case − including a motive for the attacks − remained under investigation.
“The cold-blooded killing of three people inside the tent of an encampment is outrageous,” police Chief Brian O’Hara released in a statement Sunday. “All human life matters and encampments are not safe."
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner will release the victims' identities and their official cause and manner of death, police said.
Paste BN has reached out to the medical examiner's office.
'Encampments are not safe'
During a Sunday press conference, Frey said Minneapolis has seen an increase in homicides and shootings around homeless encampments across the city.
"This is another incredibly tragic and situation... it's not a coincidence this happened at homeless encampments," Frey said. "We need to call a spade a spade. This is not about a lack of shelter... the issues that we're seeing in terms of crime and violence (are) about fentanyl."
The drug, a potential deadly narcotic, is a synthetic opioid approved for treating pain often laced into cocaine and other illicit recreational drugs. In cases where a mixture of fentanyl and cocaine isn’t fatal, it could increase the likelihood that the user develops an addiction.
Drug dealers use fentanyl as a cheap way to amp up the power of other drugs, Tom Doub, chief clinical and compliance officer at addiction treatment company American Addiction Centers, previously told The Tennessean, part of the Paste BN Network. The drugs are cheap to make, which means they are cheaper to buy on the street.
Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez pushed back on Frey tying the violence to fentanyl, local media outlet KARE 11 reported, accusing the mayor of pushing blame onto the city council.
'We are seeing folks that get evicted from their rental units end up in shelters or at encampments. That is not a fentanyl issue," Chavez said, per the outlet, while calling for a "housing-first model."
"If you can move someone into a tiny home with services, with mental health support, addiction services, an opportunity to have a job and a place to sleep at night, the likelihood that they're going to move into a permanent place and be stable has increased. That model works. Let's do more of that in the city of Minneapolis," Chavez said, per KARE 11.
O'Hara said the department continues to address crime related issues associated with homeless encampments and the city continues to offer resources.
"To help end this cycle of violence that is exacerbated by narcotics and mental health issues, it is crucial that the residents of these encampments accept the resourced that are available," O'Hara said.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for Paste BN. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.