13 Injured in Two Separate Mass Shootings at Minneapolis Homeless Encampments By KC Baker

Two mass shootings on Monday, Sept. 15, left at least 13 people at Minneapolis homeless encampments wounded, five critically, authorities said.

“This is tragic. It’s horrible. It’s unacceptable, and, sadly, it’s not surprising,” Mayor Jacob Frey said at a news conference early Tuesday, ABC News reports.

The first shooting took place just after 11 a.m. on Monday, near an encampment on East Lake Street and Interstate 35W, the Star Tribune reports.

Dozens of rounds were fired in an area where a “high volume” of people were “congregating,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a press conference, Alpha News reports.

Four adult males who were shot were rushed to local hospitals. Two of the victims were found in the nearby Metro Transit tower, and two were located on a pathway leading to the Midtown Greenway, Alpha News reports.

One of the victims is in life-threatening condition, O’Hara said, according to ABC News.

A fifth victim sustained a graze wound but refused medical treatment, he said.

Investigators believe that someone at the encampment exchanged gunfire with the shooter, O’Hara said.

Hours after the first mass shooting, at about 10 p.m., police responded to a second shooting at a different encampment two miles away.

Eight people were shot at the encampment on South 28th Avenue and East Lake Street in the southeast section of the city, O’Hara said.

No suspects have been arrested as of yet. Authorites are investigating whether the two incidents were connected.

“While the investigation is still very, very preliminary, that is certainly something that we can’t rule out, and, of course, it’s something that we are considering,” O’Hara said. “We don’t know for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

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The mass shootings mark the third and fourth that have taken place in the city in the past three weeks.

“Here we are yet again in the aftermath of a mass shooting. This is not normal,” O’Hara said, ABC News reports.

On Aug. 27, two children were killed and 21 people were injured when a gunman shot through the windows of a church at the Annunciation Catholic School.

One day prior, seven people were wounded and one person was killed when gunfire erupted at East Lake Street and Clinton Avenue, Alpha News reports.