A shooting in a popular Minneapolis nightlife area has left one man dead and 11 people wounded in a chaotic scene that sent people ducking into restaurants and other businesses for cover.
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The shooting broke out shortly after midnight on Sunday in the city's trendy Uptown neighbourhood, a nightlife hub with bars, restaurants and retail including Apple and Fjallraven stores.
Police first said 10 people had been shot with "various severity levels of injuries", but revised their total upward in a tweet posted just after 3am. The man died at the hospital, not at the scene, they said. None of the other injuries were considered life-threatening.
Police said they believe there was more than one shooter, described only as "individuals on foot". No one was in custody, and police have not said what may have prompted the shooting. All of the injured were adults.
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said during a Sunday press conference that it was "tragic and senseless violence" and called the recent uptick in violent crime a public health crisis.
He said "we absolutely do have several leads" on suspects and are getting assistance from the FBI and state agencies.
In video posted to Facebook that showed the immediate aftermath, screams could be heard as small crowds of people gathered, with some crouched over people lying on the pavement before police officers on bicycles showed up to attend to them.
Across the street from where the shooting began, in a storefront shared by the Uptown Theater and a shoe store, a police officer later Sunday surveyed a shattered window and door and a bullet hole could be seen in the storefront.
The Uptown area is about five kilometres west of the Minneapolis commercial area and neighbourhood hit by rioting in the wake of George Floyd's May 25 death after being arrested by Minneapolis police.
Some of the violence from that period reached as far as Uptown, and many storefronts are still protected by plywood.
Floyd's death has sparked a move to overhaul the Minneapolis Police Department, with a majority of City Council members pledging support for dismantling a department that many community activists have called brutal and racist.
That's prompted pushback from opponents who question how residents will be protected from violent crime.
Australian Associated Press
