Police Seek Suspect After Innocent Bystander Shot On Hennepin Avenue
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minneapolis police are looking for the man who opened fire at a downtown bus stop Tuesday night, striking an innocent bystander who was waiting for the bus.
The shooting happened near the intersection of 6th Street and Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis around 7 p.m. Tuesday. Part of the incident was captured on camera.
WCCO's Reg Chapman spoke with one of the two men who helped the innocent bystander who was shot.
Minneapolis police, along with Hennepin County Sheriff's Office deputies and private security officers, are all over this corner of downtown Minneapolis. They are making their presence known after the busy commute home last night turned violent.
Dustin Gravling says he and one of his co-workers, Craig Wise, were just having a conversation on the sidewalk when they witnessed a fight.
"Two guys were walking, by looks like they were having an argument, and then it turned into a fight," Gravling said.
Dustin says within seconds, that fight escalated into something terrifying.
"They fell on the ground wrestled around a second," Gravling said.
Before Dustin could call security...
"One of the men got up and started to run in the other direction and the other gentleman, I noticed he had a firearm in his hand and he fired one shot and I was looking to see where the shot went because I was more concerned about who it was going to hit than what he was going to do because I was off to the side I wasn't in his world at all," Gravling said.
Neither Dustin nor Craig looked at the gunman's face, concerned more about the innocent man that was hit.
"I saw a guy who was waiting for the bus and all of a sudden he just took a step back like the wind had been knocked out of him," Gravling said.
They ran to the man's aide, calming him down until paramedics arrived.
In a statement, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arrandondo says, "We are working hard to make sure that downtown and all of Minneapolis is safe and vibrant."
"This is simply unacceptable behavior for our community, especially for our vibrant downtown," Steve Kramer with the Minneapolis Downtown Council said.
Kramer says more needs to be done to make sure people who live, work and play downtown are safe. The Minneapolis Police Department has an extensive camera system that covers all of downtown, including this intersection.
Chief Arrandondo says MPD is leveraging technology to vigorously go after those perpetrating violence in Minneapolis.
The 44-year-old man who was shot is in stable condition. Police say they will continue to increase patrols in this area and other troubled spots in the city. The hope is to take more guns off the streets. To date, MPD has taken more than 650 guns from criminals.
At this hour, no arrest have been made.
