Innocent bystander hit in nose by stray bullet in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - A man was at the bus stop on Fremont Avenue N. and Dowling Avenue N. in Minneapolis when, just after 10 a.m. Thursday., there were gunshots. The man quickly put his hands to his face to slow the bleeding and found he was missing part of his nose. For the third time in 3 days, an innocent bystander bled in north Minneapolis after getting hit with a stray bullet.

The bus stop victim was caught between the crossfire of two groups shooting at each other from about 100 yards apart -- one ground in a vacant lot near a church, and the other group across Fremont near the Super USA convenience store. Witnesses heard about 8 gunshots -- a sound not uncommon to the neighborhood this summer.

Thursday’s innocent bystander shooting followed a teen girl getting hit by a stray bullet at 41st Avenue N. and Dupont Avenue N., and a man getting shot in the leg at 33rd Avenue N. and Bryant Avenue N. Three innocent bystanders hit by stray bullets in 3 days.

One neighborhood activist says gangs, or groups of people, are increasingly shooting with little regard for innocent people nearby; the shots are often fired from moving cars or from a distance, like the bullet that hit the man at the bus stop.

“That’s how people are getting hit, with stray bullets. They shred the neighborhood, all these stray bullets,” Phillip Murphy told Fox 9. “They shoot back and forth. Rolling shootouts. They shoot car to car, group on curb. Grassy knoll shooting car, group shooting group on grassy knoll from grassy knoll hundreds yards away.”

The shootings also tie up police resources. Just hours after the bus stop shooting, more shots were heard near 28th Avenue N. and Aldrich Avenue N. A man lay bleeding, shot in the leg. Also present were at least 7 patrol cars, containing officers who were not responding to other calls. A Minneapolis police computer screen showed the officers responding to the shootings, and the other calls awaiting a response.

“There’s a war, an urban war going in north Minneapolis, and it’s not being addressed,” Murphy said.

“There’s a lot that’s gotta be done. It’s so far from being over. It is a lot to be done,” Shirley McCaa, a north Minneapolis resident, told Fox 9.