A 42-year-old Chicago man is facing four felony charges after Duluth police say he fired multiple rounds into a downtown sidewalk early on August 8, injuring two bystanders before running from the scene. The Duluth Police Department identified the suspect as Michael Triplett three days later, filling in a key detail that was missing from initial reports of the shooting near the city's nightlife corridor.
According to the Duluth Police Department, an officer patrolling downtown heard gunshots at 1:27 a.m. that morning, just as 911 calls began reporting a shooting in the 100 block of West 1st Street. As reported by Fox 21 News, the shooting happened at roughly 1:30 a.m. across from the Flame nightclub, and officers who responded found several people in the area.
Bullets Into the Sidewalk, Two People Hurt
Police say the suspect fired multiple rounds directly into the sidewalk before fleeing on foot, causing two people to suffer minor, non-life-threatening injuries. One of the injured was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, while the other initially declined medical care, per the department's account. The mechanism behind the injuries — bullets striking pavement rather than being aimed at a person — helps explain why Triplett is now facing assault charges tied to a dangerous weapon rather than a more direct shooting charge.
Triplett was taken into custody three days after the incident following an investigation by the department's Violent Crimes Unit, which is still asking anyone with information about the shooting to come forward. The unit can be reached at 218-730-5050.
What Charges Triplett Is Facing
Court records cited by the department show Triplett faces three counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, along with charges of intentionally discharging a firearm under circumstances that endanger safety, reckless discharge of a firearm within a municipality, and possessing a firearm as a prohibited person. Under Minnesota Statute § 609.222, Subd. 1, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon is a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine, according to the Minnesota Revisor's Office; that maximum rises to 10 years if a victim suffers substantial bodily harm.
The firearm discharge charges carry their own separate exposure. Intentionally discharging a firearm under circumstances that endanger safety is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine under Minnesota Statute § 609.66, Subd. 1a, while reckless discharge of a firearm in a municipality carries up to two years and a $5,000 fine, the Revisor's Office notes. The most serious charge may be the firearm possession count: under Minnesota Statute § 624.713, Subd. 1, a person barred from owning a gun due to a prior conviction for a crime of violence faces up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine, a penalty structure that reflects the state's mandatory sentencing stance toward violent felons caught with firearms.
A Nightlife Corridor Under Watch
The shooting happened just outside the Flame nightclub at 28 N. 1st Ave. W., which opened in July 2012 as Duluth's first LGBTQ+ nightclub, according to Perfect Duluth Day. The block sits within a stretch of downtown that police have targeted before: department statements from June 2025 credited foot patrols and safety initiatives along West 1st Street and North 1st Avenue West with cutting violent crime in that area by 53% between the final quarters of 2022 and 2023.
It is not the only recent gun case Duluth investigators have worked. Just over a month before the August 8 shooting, on July 3, a shooting near North 9th Avenue East and 7th Street hospitalized two victims; two suspects in that case were later arrested and charged with similar counts of second-degree assault and reckless discharge, 95 KQDS reported at the time. City leaders said in July that Duluth had logged 14 gun-related incidents so far in 2026, down slightly from 17 over the same stretch in 2023, even as officials continued urging residents to secure firearms and report suspicious activity.
