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Reign Event Center mass shooting: Witness was 3 feet from gunfire
Nine people were shot outside the Reign Event Center on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis early Sunday. La'Nay Wright, who was standing in line outside the club celebrating her birthday, was just a few feet away when the shooting started. FOX 9's Leon Purvis has more.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A Minneapolis city council committee has approved the liquor license renewal for Reign nightclub nearly a month after a mass shooting that left nine people wounded.
Liquor license approved
What we know:
Council members on the Business, Housing & Zoning Committee voted unanimously to approve the license for Reign Event Center on Tuesday.
In previous meetings, members were apprehensive about renewing the license in the aftermath of the shooting. However, in an update on Tuesday, city staff said police found no connection between the shooting and the nightclub.
The backstory:
Police responded shortly after midnight on Sunday, July 19 to the reports of shots fired outside Reign nightclub on Hennepin Avenue just north of West Lake Street.
Police said an altercation outside the club led to shots being fired and nine people between the ages of 18 and 27 being hurt. At the time, police said it was possible some shots may have been fired from a vehicle.
Interim police chief Bill Peterson called the shooting "an unthinkable, disgusting and cowardly act."
Local perspective:
The shooting was the second mass shooting on the same block in recent years. In June 2020, another mass shooting in the area of Hennepin and West Lake Street in Uptown left 11 people hurt, and window fronts shattered in the area.
The July 19 shooting also turned out to be the first of two mass shootings in Minneapolis that day. In the second shooting, four people were hurt, and one man was killed in a shooting in the area of E 19th Street and Nicollet Avenue in the Stevens Square neighborhood. Police later said that area has been a known problem area due to narcotics trafficking.
No link between club and shooting
Big picture view:
Briefing the committee on Tuesday, city staff told council members that police didn't believe there was a direct link between the club and the shooting.
Staff said that investigators now believe that the gunman had just spotted someone they knew outside the club and opened fire on them into the crowd.
City staff also indicated that an influx of 911 and 311 calls at Reign seemed to be mostly benign. Most of the 311 calls were related to "livability" issues, like calls for homeless individuals, graffiti, and daytime drug use.
Dig deeper:
The top reasons for 911 calls were narcotics and drug activity, suspicious persons, fights and disturbances, and assistance with medical calls. Staff said there had been an increase in calls this year, but that may be because the club owner was encouraged to call 911 by the precinct inspector to ensure issues were being dealt with.
"We are a complaint-driven system," said Julianne Lynum, the director of Economic Policy and Development. "So we never want our business owners to be afraid to call 911 for help and worry that it will be held against them later."
The other side:
Lynum also said that the city and Minneapolis police had reviewed a new security plan for Reign and the police department had signed off on the plan. Lynum also noted that the club typically has off-duty police officers working as security.