MINNEAPOLIS — A fourth person has died as a result of a mass shooting in Minneapolis earlier this week in which investigators believe a fifth person was killed in retaliation hours later, police said Friday.
The 28-year-old man had been hospitalized in grave condition since the shootings late Tuesday, and died Thursday shortly after federal authorities arrested a 34-year-old suspect, the Minneapolis Police Department said in a statement.
The shootings shook the large Native American community in the neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis.
Police have said that the victims were Native American and investigators strongly suspect the shootings were gang-related. However, Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference Thursday that authorities were still investigating the motives.
“This is a bittersweet day,” O’Hara said in Friday’s statement. “While this arrest represents meaningful progress toward justice, that progress is overshadowed by the heartbreaking loss of another life. Our thoughts remain with the victims’ families, their loved ones, and a community that continues to grieve.”
A 20-year-old woman, a 17-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man were also killed in Tuesday’s shootings. A 20-year-old woman was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. About 13 hours later and roughly three blocks away, a 30-year-old man was killed outside an apartment building that houses the Minneapolis offices of the Red Lake Nation tribe.
The first shootings took place just before midnight Tuesday. O’Hara said it’s “entirely probable” that the second shooting with the single victim was in retaliation to the three deaths, and he said someone else was responsible.
The chief said police believe the shootings are gang related based on the “lived experience” of the people in the area.
The U.S. Marshals Service said its local fugitive task force and an FBI SWAT team arrested a suspect from Minneapolis on Thursday afternoon. Newly unsealed court records show he was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He remained jailed Friday, and court records didn’t list an attorney who could comment on his behalf.