Three people are dead and US police officers are among six others injured after a shooting in a Minneapolis apartment building on Wednesday afternoon.
Emergency services were called to reports of gunfire at the Shoreline Plaza complex in the Loring Park neighbourhood of the city shortly after 4:30 pm local time (10:30 pm BST).
“Officers arrived three minutes later to find multiple victims inside and more sounds of gunfire from an upper floor,” said Sgt Garrett Parten, a spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department.
“[They] followed the sound of gunfire to the upper floor of the building, and on that floor, officers encountered a haze that significantly limited their visibility.”
It’s believed the gunman then fired upon the group of approaching police, shooting two. A third officer was also hurt during the confrontation, but authorities said they had not been shot.
The suspect was later found dead inside the building. Police were yet to confirm whether he died by suicide or was shot by police.
Bill Peterson, the interim police chief, did not identify the shooter, but said “we were familiar with who this individual was.”
“It’s truly sickening that in my career, 31 years here, that is the third incident like this that has happened. But our officers have shown that they are willing and they do respond towards gunfire when others are running from it, and it’s absolutely heroic,” he said.
An officer who was shot twice in the abdomen later underwent emergency surgery in hospital, where they remained in a stable condition, on Wednesday night.
A second was shot twice in the leg and was also being treated in hospital.
One person believed to have been shot by the suspect died at the scene, and a second victim died after being transported to Hennepin County Medical Center. Police were yet to confirm their identities.
In total, three civilians and the three injured officers remained in hospital for treatment.
“I can’t emphasise enough how dangerous the situation was and how heroic our officers were in their response,” said Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis.
“This is a tremendously tragic event, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives,” Sgt Parten said.
While investigators investigated the gunman’s motive, local residents reported that he had previously made troubling comments and threats.
Chris Miller, a resident at the complex, told The Minnesota Star Tribune that the gunman claimed earlier in the week he was going to “shoot his ex-girlfriend and the two building property managers”.
“He said, ‘I’m going to shoot people,’” Mr Miller said, adding that the suspect appeared “very, very angry, drunk and mad” over an ongoing eviction and a recent breakup.
Derrick Thompson, a visitor to the building, told the paper he heard a female resident “screaming” moments before “all hell broke loose”, adding: “I was right there side by side with the police.”
Umecua Agnew, 48, who was in the building’s lift with two adults and a child when the firing began, told The New York Times: “It just felt like the shooting was on every floor. I could feel it every time the elevator went up.”
She took cover in her apartment until police came to her door to escort her to safety.
“I just thank God that I was able to get into my apartment,” Ms Agnew said.
As residents took cover, police shut down the building on Grant St and nearby roads.
Writing on the social media platform X, Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, said: “Grateful to law enforcement actively working to ensure the safety of our [neighbours] in Downtown Minneapolis this afternoon. Minnesota is praying for our first responders.”
Kash Patel, the FBI director, said in a post on X that the agency “will offer any and all resources necessary to assist local authorities”.
Residents were warned to keep away from the area on Wednesday night while the apartment block was declared a crime scene and investigators gathered evidence.
The incident follows a period of heightened volatility in Minneapolis following the deaths of two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot and killed by federal immigration officers in separate incidents in January.
In the wake of Pretti’s death on Jan 24, Donald Trump, the US president, took personal control of deportation operations in the city, dispatching Tom Homan, his “border tsar”, to oversee operations while ordering federal agents to wear body cameras.