Man Shot In Head During Uptown Robbery

Man Shot In Head During Uptown Robbery

A 25-year-old man is in critical condition after a Saturday night shooting in Uptown.The man was walking with his mother, sister and her friend after they finished dinner in a restaurant at Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street.
According to police, two men approached the group about 10 p.m. at 31st Street and Girard Avenue South. The suspects allegedly stole the mother's purse. Then, even though the victims didn't put up a fight, the suspects allegedly fired two shots, hitting the man in the head.
Ronald Barry, who lives in the apartment building next to where the shooting occurred said, "I heard the shots ... a lady screaming. I called 911 and ran to their aid. There was obviously nothing I could do for the guy. I mean, it was a horrible sight."
The victim's mother was visiting from Virginia. The group was attacked only blocks away from the restaurant where they ate.
Kris Arenson, an inspector from the Minneapolis Police Department said, "Usually when the purse is given up, or even if the purse isn't given up, we haven't had any (people) that have been shot."
Police said the suspects immediately fled the scene, jumped into a white car and headed south on Girard Avenue.
While the area is not known for violence, resident Justin Ellis wasn't surprised there would be a robbery outside his building. "Last summer, I was walking to my car early in the morning before work, I had an early meeting, and I got mugged," Ellis said. That day, Ellis got away, but a woman on Hennepin Avenue didn't.
Police gave vague descriptions of the suspects, only saying they are men between 17 years old and 22 years old and were both wearing dark clothing. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Minneapolis Police Department at 612-692-8477.


Victim of Uptown shooting dies

Minneapolis police said today that a man who was critically wounded in a shooting in Uptown on Saturday night died Sunday.
Robberies in Minneapolis' Uptown area, where Michael Zebuhr of Buckhannon, W. Va., was shot, have spiked several times in the past year. That brought an increased police presence, arrests and a temporary lull in Uptown robberies, police leaders say.
Police have been focusing patrols on the nearby Whittier and Stevens Square neighborhoods along Franklin Avenue, which have traditionally had more of the Fifth Precinct's street crime, said Inspector Kris Arneson. That may have pushed crime toward Uptown, she said.
Residents and business owners share police concern about the violent, but unusual, robbery.
Zebuhr was shot about 10 p.m. while returning to a car with his mother and two others from an Uptown restaurant.
He was a 2005 graduate of Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, W. Va., and is a graduate student in bioengineering at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C. He was in Minneapolis to visit his sister with their mother, Suzanne Strong. Police said Zebuhr was shot after two men grabbed his mother's purse. Police had made no arrests Monday, and they said there may also have been more suspects in a getaway vehicle.
Arneson noted that robbery has increased in the precinct this year, but not significantly in Uptown, where crime often occurs just outside the commercial hub on side streets.
Police say street crimes like robbery seem to be moving south and west from the Whittier and Stevens Square neighborhoods toward Hennepin and Lake.
Robberies in the Fifth Precinct have increased 43 percent to about 100 so far this year over last, Arneson said. Citywide, robberies grew 39 percent in the same period, according to police data through March 13.
Authorities said that despite the violence of Saturday's robbery, few victims are shot if they oblige a robber's request.
It is unclear whether Saturday's incident is linked to other cases. Lubinski said there were no "strong constant" patterns in robberies this year, which are up in each precinct.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call 612-692-TIPS.

This was just 4 blocks from my apartment. And they did everything you're supposed to if you get mugged. Everything. And this guy still got shot. I'm about ready to move to the country.