Minneapolis police managed to defuse a potentially volatile situation today when they responded to reports of shots fired in an apartment on the 10th floor of a local building, as Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara expressed his gratitude towards the officers and crisis team negotiators who brought the incident to a peaceful conclusion without further injury, in a statement made by the City of Minneapolis.
According to the details shared by Chief O’Hara, the incident unfolded around 3:15 p.m. when 1st Precinct officers arrived at the scene, they heard what they believed to be gunfire within the apartment and eventually called in the MPD SWAT Unit and the MPD Crisis Negotiations Team, which worked to evacuate residents and establish contact with the man, who refused to come out but instead created a hole in the wall and threw objects through it and out the window. Simultaneously officers executed a takedown leveraging a Taser to subdue and detain the individual, as per the City of Minneapolis.
Chief O’Hara noted that the 34-year-old man arrested for property damage had experienced minor injuries, believed to have been sustained before police custody was established, and that mental health issues are suspected to be a contributing factor to the day’s events. As a result, the man was taken to Hennepin Healthcare Hospital for evaluation before being booked into Hennepin County Jail, though a thorough search of the apartment after securing a warrant revealed no immediate ballistic evidence or visible weapons.
“I'm incredibly thankful to the police officers, SWAT Team members, and crisis negators who responded today,” Chief O’Hara said. "They performed heroically and with great restraint trying to rescue individuals who they thought were in danger of gunfire. They came up with a significant plan to safely take this person into custody quickly. I'm just incredibly grateful to them, and I'm thankful that we're able to end this relatively quickly, in about an hour and a half, with no other persons being injured," Chief O’Hara told the City of Minneapolis.
