Monday, April 03, 2006

Random downtown shooting

Victim of downtown random shooting identified

A bystander was killed late Friday near Block E in downtown Minneapolis, prompting questions about the area's safety.
Police and community leaders said the shooting of Reitter near the Block E entertainment complex was a senseless act, and the death raised questions about safety downtown and led to calls for renewed efforts to stop gun violence in the city.
About a minute after the 11:35 p.m. shooting, police arrested a 21-year-old Minneapolis man, after a foot chase.

Numerous officers had converged on the area in response to a large fight and a report of shots being fired. But Dolan said the suspect has told police that he was not being threatened or assaulted, nor was he trying to defend himself when he began firing shots.
The suspect "just shot into a crowd of people," Dolan said.
Police said multiple shots were fired.

Reitter, the victim, was not involved in the fight. He was struck in the head as he was walking with friends. He died later at Hennepin County Medical Center.

Chris Greising, a worker at the Borders bookstore in Block E, was upstairs right before the shooting, looking at lines of perhaps 200 people outside the theater. Suddenly the crowd started running and screaming, and he heard at least two gunshots, he said.
"It was just sort of anarchy," he said of the people scattering. More than a dozen people started to rush into the bookstore, prompting Greising to call his manager and say, "We need to close now."




I was down there on Friday night. I was at a concert at the 7th St Entry, right across the fucking street. That could have been me. If the show had started on time, we would have been leaving at 11:30.
I think it's about time to start thinking about geting the hell out of here. Once you add this to the random shooting in Uptown two weeks ago, that was just blocks from my apartment. I don't want to live someplace where I have to be afraid to get get shot for no reason just going around the corner for a fucking cup of coffee.

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