Watch video of people firing fireworks at Minneapolis Police
MINNEAPOLIS -- Eleven children and five adults, all teens, were arrested early Wednesday morning for firing fireworks at law enforcement in a Minneapolis neighborhood.
WCCO News has secured a video that shows the youths firing directly at police squad cars near Boom Island at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.
A witness told WCCO News that about a dozen officers with MPD, Minneapolis Park Police and the Minnesota State Patrol tried to disperse the group, which wouldn't comply. Order was restored in the area by about 2 a.m.
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Six of the teens arrested were cited for disorderly conduct, while five others were booked into the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said Wednesday afternoon that his department's response was an improvement from last year, when similar fireworks-related chaos occurred, and multiple people were shot on the Stone Arch Bridge.
"This year [the MPD] kept these groups on the run," O'Hara said. "The targeting of innocent people with fireworks is unlawful, dangerous, and wholly unacceptable."
O'Hara said 12 were shot over the holiday weekend, compared to 25 during the same time period in 2022. No one was hurt during the Boom Island fireworks incident.
Police also say they had to clear out about 200 people who had gathered to watch people set off fireworks at Bde Maka Ska.