Neighbors Credited With Helping To Catch Cambridge Shooting Suspects
CAMBRIDGE, Minn. (WCCO) -- Vigilant neighbors are credited with helping police track down a man and teenager accused of a near-fatal shooting.
Cambridge police say the men shot 43-year-old Gregory Poole Monday evening moments after he answered his front door.
Numerous 911 calls from neighbors sent police scrambling to the 600 block of 3rd Avenue Southwest.
"It appears…the bullet went through his right hand and into his upper right chest, hit his shoulder and went out," said Cambridge Police Chief Timothy Dwyer.
Poole was alert and talking when paramedics arrived. Emergency crews took him to Cambridge Medical Center and later flew him to Hennepin County Medical Center for treatment.
He was in stable but critical condition on Tuesday.
After the shooting, a couple of Poole's neighbors watched the suspects -- two young men, one with a handgun, the other with a knife -- run through the neighborhood toward Highway 95.
Neighbors reported back to officers that the two men had run towards a nursing home.
"A short foot pursuit occurred, running around our nursing home, apparently our two suspects had attempted to get into the nursing home," Dwyer said. "Thank goodness the doors were locked."
The two men then ran next door to another section of the home, Gables West, where they were arrested in the parking lot.
From shooting to arrest, Cambridge police say it took officers five minutes to catch the suspects. It's something Dwyer says would not have happened without the help of alert neighbors.
Dwyer says although he appreciates what the neighbors did, he says it is dangerous to follow suspects.
The suspects have yet to be identified.
