Police: Man Kicked Out Of Mpls. Bar Returns, Fires Gun Into Bar; 2 Injured
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A bar manager and patron suffered non-life threatening injuries in a shooting at a Minneapolis bar Wednesday night.
Minneapolis police say a man was kicked out of the 19 Bar near downtown Minneapolis, but returned and fired rounds into the bar's front door from outside.
"Double steel door. Both sides are steel. They went through right there," 19 Bar owner Gary Hallberg said, pointing to the bullet holes.
Witnesses say the man and his dog walked into the bar shortly before 9 p.m. He was refused service, however, for being drunk.
"The dog is fine. You're intoxicated. We don't know who you are or where you come from and we can't serve you -- and that happened twice," Hallberg said.
After a brief struggle with bouncers, the man was forced outside.
"I saw some guy was getting bounced out … so I held back in my car for a little while, " said bar regular Maggie Jo Banken.
When she thought it was safe, she walked toward the bar.
"I hear the guys that were in front of me being like, 'no man, no man, there is no reason for that.' Then I look around and I don't see his face, I just see a silver hand gun," Banken said.
The men in front of her shut and locked the door, but it wasn't enough to protect them.
"I knew that when those shots went off, that they were stuck in the doorway," Banken said.
The two people who were hit were taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center. They are expected to be OK.
Hallberg says no one knows who the gunman is, but he hopes his extensive system of cameras will give police what they need to make an arrest. He's owned this bar since 1992 and this is the first time anything like this has happened.
Police say they are making positive steps in identifying the gunman.
The bar will be closed Thursday, but will reopen Friday.