Nine people were injured in a shooting outside an event venue in Minneapolis early on Sunday, in what the city's police chief described as another act of gun violence. The gunfire erupted outside the RAIN event center in the Uptown area, sending a large crowd scattering and leaving officers to confront a chaotic scene with multiple victims when they arrived within moments.
According to the Minneapolis Police Department, officers responded just after 12:25 a.m. to reports of a shooting outside the venue in the 2900 block of Hennepin Avenue South. Interim Chief Bill Peterson said the first officers were on the scene in less than a minute, encountering multiple victims and a large gathering of people, which prompted a call for additional help.
In total, nine adults were injured in the shooting, Peterson said. Two of them, both men, were described as having potentially life-threatening injuries. The chief did not report any deaths, and authorities did not release the identities or exact conditions of the wounded as they continued to work the scene and gather information.
Officials said the RAIN event center does not operate every weekend but books events, and that a scheduled event had drawn a large group of people to the venue for entertainment on the night of the shooting. Officers had been stationed in the area, as they typically are around the city's entertainment districts during late-evening and bar-closing hours, and the first to arrive were said to be officers working off duty at a nearby establishment.
As additional officers from every precinct and from other law enforcement agencies rushed in, the Minneapolis Fire Department and Hennepin County EMS treated the injured found at the scene and transported them for care. Officials credited the quick actions of the initial responders and emergency crews with helping the wounded get to hospitals rapidly.
Peterson said a large team of investigators was working to follow every available lead, drawing on the Minneapolis Police Department together with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Bloomington Police Department, the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office, Metro Transit Police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, alongside intelligence-sharing units in the region.
Authorities cautioned that it was still very early in the investigation and that they were reviewing all of the available evidence, including whether the venue had generated problems in the past and what exactly unfolded. No arrests were announced and no motive was given. A commissioner appealed to anyone with information to come forward anonymously through Crime Stoppers, noting that tips leading to an arrest could be eligible for a reward.
City officials later held a news conference to address the shooting. The commissioner of community safety, Todd Barnett, called the attack unacceptable and a senseless act of violence, urged anyone with information to contact the police or Crime Stoppers, and thanked the officers and first responders who acted quickly. Interim Chief Peterson said that firing a gun into a crowd of people demonstrated a complete disregard for human life, describing the incident as an unthinkable, disgusting and cowardly act and pledging to use every available investigative resource to identify everyone involved.
Peterson cautioned that the inquiry remained in its very early stages and that some questions could not be answered yet in order to protect the integrity of the investigation. Asked whether the gunfire had come from a passing vehicle, he said it was too early to determine, adding that investigators were still speaking with victims and witnesses and combing through video from the area. He gave no update pointing to any arrests, and no motive was offered as the work to identify those responsible continued.
Further details later emerged about those caught in the gunfire. According to Fox 9, the nine people wounded were seven men and two women, all of them between the ages of 18 and 27. Investigators said they believed the shooting had begun after some sort of argument, and were still examining whether one of the shots may have been fired from a vehicle, though no arrests had been made by that evening.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey addressed the violence in a statement, calling it a stark reminder that keeping the city's streets safe required every tool available. He said the city needed to continue hiring more police officers to both investigate and prevent gun crimes, adding that those responsible for such acts had to be arrested and prosecuted. A woman who had been waiting in line outside the venue when the shots rang out described a chaotic scene, saying people close to her were among those hit before the crowd scattered.