Search warrant: Allegation of ‘staged' Minneapolis shooting and quick GoFundMe

Minneapolis police have filed an application for a search warrant to examine an alleged shooting victim’s car after an anonymous tip raised questions about the incident. According to the application, police believe a ballistic analysis of the car “will help corroborate the victim’s account of the incident or whether the incident was somehow staged.”

On May 19 at approximately 10:46 p.m., Minneapolis police responded to the 1300 block of Pierce Street NE on a report of a shooting. Officers found a woman with a gunshot wound to her lower left leg and found her two children in the backseat, unharmed.

According to the search warrant application, the alleged victim told police she was driving to the store to get medicine for her teething infant and had pulled over to the side of the road to soothe her baby and grab a pacifier that had fallen. While leaning back in her seat, the woman claims a man with a mask came up behind her and put a gun to her back, saying “what you got?”

According to the search warrant application, police learned that almost immediately after the shooting, the victim had a GoFundMe page with a $100,000 fundraising goal and had contacted numerous news outlets to try to get news coverage of the incident.

Investigators wrote that they also interviewed the alleged victim’s grandmother, who called the story “fishy.”

On May 25, investigators received an anonymous trip through CrimeStoppers, alleging the victim “had been asking around trying to obtain a gun about one week prior to this incident. Furthermore, the tip stated that the victim staged the shooting and that she was possibly shot by a woman.”

Police impounded and searched the vehicle, recovering a fired bullet, a receipt and another paper document. 

No criminal charges have been filed in this case.