Victim Recovering, No Arrests In Downtown Minneapolis Shooting
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A man is still hospitalized after being shot as he sat outside a popular downtown Minneapolis restaurant Saturday evening.
According to a police report 31-year-old Craig Millar from the United Kingdom was shot just before 8 p.m.
He was sitting outside the Lyon's Pub on South Sixth Street.
Witnesses say after the shots were fired at least 10 juveniles ran from the scene creating chaos as people ducked for cover.
"Just got done ordering something to drink and some food and all of a sudden there was a pop, pop, pop," Bryan Hawkins said.
Hawkins and his girlfriend were having dinner on the patio of Kieran's Irish Pub just a block from where the shooting happened. He says after the shots at least 10 young men, all clearly juveniles, began running towards them.
"People were scrambling into Kieran's to get away," Hawkins said.
One of the young men was cradling what Hawkins says may have been a gun.
"Two people who were with him, saying, 'Go, go, go. Just keep going,' and they all met at the corner, or around the corner on First Avenue," he said.
Hawkins says Minneapolis police were there in moments. Several gunshots shattered nearby skyway windows leaving shattered glass along Sixth Street. The 31-year-old man who was shot in the leg remains at Hennepin County Medical Center in satisfactory condition.
Lyon's Pub owner Ray Rodgers said while Minneapolis police "handled the situation well," he would like to see police have more authority to deal with anyone who is loitering in the area. Downtown officials insist the shooting in such a busy area is not the norm.
"Downtown overall is very safe," Steve Cramer, the president of the Minneapolis Downtown Council said.
"It doesn't mean that incidents like this aren't going to occasionally happen and when they do we can't whitewash it."
Witnesses say the young men running from the scene ran down to First Avenue and toward the light rail station. And it was at a light rail station a few blocks away by City Hall that police briefly detained five young men Saturday night and seized a gun. But those young men have apparently been released, police say no arrests have been made in this case.