Edina shooting: Search warrant reveals multiple shooters, 55 casings at Our Lady of Grace

EDINA, Minn. (FOX 9) - A shooting at an Edina church on Sept. 22 sent basketball players running for cover — and now investigators want answers from a car left behind.

Our Lady of Grace parking lot shooting

What we know:

A shooting outside a Catholic church in Edina during a pickup basketball game has led investigators to seek a court-authorized search of a vehicle found at the scene.

Edina police responded to Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, located at 5071 Eden Avenue, on the evening of Sept. 22 after reports of a shooting. The church's basketball courts and parking lot were the center of the investigation.

When officers arrived, they found a white Honda Accord with extremely dark window tint parked near the basketball courts. The driver and a juvenile passenger had been inside the vehicle. Both told officers they had been playing basketball when they heard gunshots and ran, according to the warrant application. The driver said the rounds traveled over their heads and appeared to come from the north to northwest.

The scene

The backstory:

According to the search warrant, a total of 10 people were found at the scene, all of whom said they had been playing basketball when bullets began "whizzing" by them. They reported hearing shots from the north, but could not pinpoint the exact location. None of the 10 wanted to give a formal statement to law enforcement, according to the warrant. Officers noted the group appeared unconcerned and was laughing and joking during their interactions with police.

Authorities say surveillance video from a camera on the northeast side of the church building captured what happened. At approximately 7:53 p.m., multiple muzzle flashes were visible from the north entrance road near Eden Avenue, indicating at least two or three shooters firing at the same time. People on the basketball courts fled south through the parking lot, while others took cover behind vehicles or ran around the church. One vehicle left the basketball court area, stopped to pick up several people and then continued south on the frontage road. The shooters were seen running to a vehicle parked on a service road next to the baseball fields, which then sped away east on Eden Avenue and north through a closed section of Arcadia Avenue. The video was described as very grainy due to darkness and the distance between the shooters and the camera.

Evidence and the search warrant

Dig deeper:

Officers found two vehicles with broken windows that appeared to have been struck by bullets. A white Lexus SUV appeared to have been hit by a bullet that entered through the driver's-side rear window and exited through the passenger-side rear window. That bullet then struck a gray Honda SUV, which was backed into the space immediately south, entering through the front passenger-side window, according to the warrant.

Officers also recovered 55 spent cartridge casings in the northwest corner of the church property, along with torn packaging for a new Glock 9mm extended magazine. Seven cell phones left behind on the basketball court were also collected, as it was unknown who owned them or whether any contained video of the shooting. All items were submitted to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for examination.

According to the search warrant, On Sept. 23, a staff member from Our Lady of Grace contacted police to report that an additional cell phone and several bullet fragments had been found on the property. Those items were also collected as evidence.

What we don't know:

It remains unclear whether the occupants of the Honda fired any weapons, returned fire or had any prior knowledge that a shooting was going to take place, according to the warrant. Investigators have not publicly identified any suspects in the shooting, and it is unknown whether any arrests have been made in connection with the Sept. 22 shooting at Our Lady of Grace.