Photo: Joe Caffrey/KSTP-TV
Link: https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/2-shot-at-metro-transit-station-in-minneapolis/
By the numbers
It has been an awful month for public safety in Minneapolis. While data shows that year to date murders and many other crimes of violence are down compared to last year, that trend has been upended over the past month with a torrent of shootings.
Even the city’s crime dashboard is having trouble keeping up. As of this morning there have been 55 recorded gunshot wound victims in the past month compared to 37 during the same time period last year. Adding the 13 people shot in two separate incidents yesterday raises that total to 68, or more than two per day. The three-year average for this time of year is 40.
The current data on murders shows that nine people have been killed in the past 28 days, while the three-year average for this time of year is five.
The majority of this recent violence began around Tuesday August 26th when during a brief 13 hour period three people were killed and eight injured in three separate incidents across the city. This including one mass shooting incident that left one dead and five injured.
Then on Wednesday morning August 27th the now infamous mass school shooting took place at Annunciation Church in south Minneapolis. Two children were killed and 21 injured during the incident.
This past Sunday September 14th there were two people murdered and another person shot in two separate incidents in the city.
Violence carried over into Monday when two separate mass shooting incidents occurred in south Minneapolis. The first shooting happened at 11:20 am next to the transit hub at Lake Street and I-35 which has been the site of continuous open air drug dealing and multiple shootings. Five people were shot in that incident, one reported as receiving a life-threatening head injury. Then 11 hours later the second mass shooting of the day occurred at a homeless encampment located on private property at East Lake Street and 28th Ave So. Eight people were shot, three of them receiving injuries considered to be life threatening.
The encampment shooting comes after the city had leveled nearly $15,000 in fines and a lawsuit against the business owner for allowing a public health nuisance in the form of the encampment. The city has adopted a zero tolerance stance on encampments after recognizing how damaging the encampments had become, not only to neighbors and business owners, but to the encampment residents as well.
Fatigue Factor
The fatigue factor has to be weighing heavy on so many withing the city. I am particularly concerned for the 500 Minneapolis police officers tasked with the thankless job of trying to stop the violence – a job that used to be handled by over 900 officers.
As of late they have found themselves responding to a seemingly endless string of horribly violent and chaotic incidents. That takes a toll on anyone, including our police officers and other first responders. Keep them in your prayers, as their trauma is often overlooked.
In light of the incidents in the past month, Minneapolis needs to double down on its requests for help from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, the state in the form of Troopers and Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigators, and the federal government. While some local and state political leaders would undoubtedly object, an infusion of proactive enforcement and an increased law enforcement presence, as witnessed in Washington DC and soon to be witnessed in Memphis, is just what the city could use at this time.