Minneapolis apartment shooting leaves two dead as police battle gunman

Minneapolis apartment shooting leaves two dead as police battle gunman

Officers walked into a wall of gunfire

A routine afternoon in downtown Minneapolis turned into a terrifying fight for survival on Wednesday when police stormed a high-rise apartment building under a barrage of gunfire.

At least two people were killed and several others wounded, including three police officers, after a gunman opened fire inside the building.

The shooter was also found dead.

Police believe he most likely died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, although the circumstances of his death remain under investigation.

Three officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries. One was shot in the leg, another required surgery and the third was being evaluated.

All three are expected to recover.

A building filled with terrified residents

The shooting began at around 4:36pm local time after police received a report that one person had been shot.

Then the calls started coming in.

More gunfire.

More victims.

More chaos.

Officers rushed into the building and found wounded people in the lobby before following the sound of gunfire towards an upper floor.

What they encountered there made an already dangerous situation even more frightening.

Police described a haze that severely restricted visibility.

Officials do not yet know what caused it. It could have been smoke or some other substance, and four officers reportedly suffered adverse effects after being exposed to it.

Yet they continued moving through the building.

“I grabbed her back”

For residents, there was nowhere obvious to run.

Umecua Agnew, 48, was in an elevator when she heard gunfire coming from the lobby.

A young girl was about to step out.

Agnew grabbed her and pulled her back into the elevator, pressing the button to take them higher and away from the shooting.

She later described women in the elevator screaming as they realised someone was firing a gun inside their building.

Eventually Agnew reached her eighth-floor apartment, locked herself inside and hid in the bathroom while gunshots continued to echo through the building.

She called her mother in tears.

For those trapped inside, the police response outside was almost irrelevant.

The gunman was somewhere in the building.

And they had no idea what would happen next.

Police went towards the gunfire

Dozens of officers flooded into the complex, many carrying long guns, while ambulances and armoured vehicles surrounded the area.

Police moved from apartment to apartment looking for victims and trying to secure residents.

The mayor praised their actions, saying that without the officers' “heroic work”, the death toll could have been considerably higher.

That is difficult to dispute.

The officers were not arriving after the danger had passed.

They were entering a high-rise while gunfire was still being heard, visibility was impaired and residents were trapped inside.

The gunman was apparently known to police

One of the most intriguing questions now facing investigators is why the shooting happened.

Minneapolis police said they were familiar with the suspect, although his identity has not yet been released.

Earlier that same day, officers had been called to the apartment complex to investigate a dispute.

A law-enforcement official said the dispute may have involved someone facing eviction.

Investigators are now examining whether that person was the same individual who later opened fire.

If so, the earlier police call could become a crucial part of the investigation.

Another Minneapolis community shaken

The shooting occurred only about five miles from the Annunciation Catholic Church, where another gunman killed two children and wounded 27 people in an attack last year.

That proximity adds another layer of trauma for a city that has already endured a series of devastating shootings.

Once again, residents found themselves confronted with something that has become horribly familiar across America:

gunfire in a place where people thought they were safe.

An apartment building.

An elevator.

A hallway.

A home.

Places where nobody expects to be running for their life.

Federal agents join the investigation

The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were responding to the scene as investigators began working through the building.

Police cordoned off surrounding streets and kept residents away while officers searched the complex.

The nearby University of St. Thomas Minneapolis campus also issued a temporary shelter-in-place order as a precaution.

Officials said they were working to return residents to their homes as soon as possible.

But getting people back through those doors will not necessarily make them feel safe again.

For the residents who heard the gunfire from inside their apartments, saw wounded people being carried away or hid behind locked doors while police fought their way through the building, Wednesday's events will be far harder to leave behind.

The questions now begin

Why did the gunman open fire?

Was the earlier dispute connected to the attack?

What was the substance that created the mysterious haze?

How many shots were fired?

And exactly how did the gunman die?

Those questions will take time to answer.

For now, Minneapolis is left with two dead civilians, three injured police officers, other wounded victims and a high-rise apartment building transformed, in a matter of minutes, into a battlefield.

The officers went in.

The residents hid.

And another American city is once again trying to understand how an ordinary afternoon became a nightmare of gunfire.

SOURCE