A shooting at a downtown Minneapolis apartment building on Wednesday afternoon left three dead, including the suspect, and at least six injured — among them police officers, authorities said.
It’s unclear how the suspect, who exchanged gunfire with responding officers, died, interim Minneapolis Police Chief Bill Peterson said at a news conference. He labeled the incident “the cowardly acts of a violent shooter.”
The name of the suspected shooter was not released by police on Wednesday, but Peterson acknowledged: “We were familiar with who this individual was.”
Five people were wounded by gunfire, including two Minneapolis police officers. A sixth person, another officer, was not shot but suffered other injuries. All three officers are in stable condition, according to Hennepin County Medical Center.
Police responded to a report of one person shot at 15 E. Grant St. at around 4:36 p.m., but additional 911 callers reported hearing more gunfire, Peterson said.
“It was quickly updated to an active shooter situation,” he said.
A large police presence at the scene of a shooting in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday.Ellen Schmidt / AP
Officers entered the high-rise apartment building, where they “encountered victims and heard additional gunfire,” Peterson said.
Officers followed the sound of gunfire to an upper floor, where they encountered a haze that significantly limited their visibility, he said. It was not immediately clear what the haze was, he added.
Four people with apparent gunshot wounds were taken to the hospital, where one died, and an additional person died at the scene, he said.
The officers’ injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, police said. One of the wounded officers was shot in the leg, and the other was struck twice in the abdomen, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said.
Frey said officers acted bravely and helped get people to hospitals and others to safety, “all while getting shot at themselves.”
“But for their heroic work, the death toll would have been far higher,” he said.
Aerial video from NBC affiliate KARE of Minneapolis showed a large police presence, including what appeared to be armored vehicles and SWAT-style officers.
A KARE reporter said she spoke with multiple witnesses who saw people injured in the lobby of an apartment building.
One resident said he got a call about the shooting from a friend. While he was trying to leave, the elevator stopped on a floor, and police told him he had to get out of the building. As he went through the lobby, he saw multiple people shot on the ground, KARE reported.
Another witness said she was walking downstairs into the lobby when she heard gunshots and saw “somebody that was down.”
She said she “just left the building immediately, because I knew what was happening, so I didn’t want to be involved in that.”
“I heard lots of more shots. Once I was finally outside of the building, I probably heard 25 to 30 shots — because there were multiple officers who had went in and entered,” the woman told a KARE reporter.
Sam Turner, who owns the Nicollet Diner nearby, said his restaurant’s security cameras picked up the sound of the shooting.
“I pulled up the camera to the restaurant and there were cop cars everywhere,” he said. “You can’t see much, but you can hear the gunshots, about 30.”
The city government told people to avoid the multiblock area of the city that includes Loring Park. It later said that the area was secure and that there was no further threat to the public.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he was relieved that all the injured officers were expected to make a full recovery, and he thanked the first responders.
“We’re keeping all of the victims in our prayers as more information about this tragic shooting unfolds,” Walz said on social media.
Hennepin County Medical Center said it didn’t have conditions available for the injured patients.Ellen Schmidt / AP
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in St. Paul said it was responding to the scene.
FBI Director Kash Patel also said that his agency was aware and that its personnel were responding. “We will offer any and all resources necessary to assist local authorities,” Patel said on X.