A bullet ripped through a Minneapolis condo early Saturday morning, shattering a window before ricocheting through the kitchen and living room of owner Megan Stuart, who says she could have been struck while she was sleeping just feet away. The shooting happened near the Stone Arch Bridge, where Stuart and other residents have grown increasingly alarmed by large late-night crowds that gather along the riverfront most weekends.
Stuart, who owns the condo, filed a police report after the shooting and told KSTP that the bullet could have hit her while she was asleep. “I’m really concerned for my safety here,” she said, describing the moment she realized how close the round had come to her living space. Security camera footage captured what appears to be the shot fired near the bridge, according to the station’s report.
Stuart says a large group of young people — sometimes numbering several hundred — takes over the east end of the Stone Arch Bridge, gathering not just on weekends but sometimes during the week as well. She believes the late-night gatherings are fueling criminal activity in the area, and she wants the crowds moved permanently rather than temporarily dispersed. Per the same account, Stuart said moving the crowd for just one hour would not be sufficient to solve the underlying problem.
A Pattern of Riverfront Gunfire
This is not an isolated incident along the central riverfront corridor. Less than a month before the bullet struck Stuart’s condo, an 18-year-old man was shot and wounded around 2:30 a.m. on August 9 near 6th Avenue SE and Main Street SE, close to the Stone Arch Bridge, according to FOX 9. Police responded to multiple reports of gunfire in the area before that victim arrived at Hennepin Healthcare.
Hoodline previously reported on gunfire near the bridge tied to that August shooting, which came just hours after an estimated 500 electric scooter and e-bike riders swarmed downtown Minneapolis in an unsanctioned late-night gathering that spilled onto Interstate 35W, according to CBS News. Organizers had reportedly expected only about 20 attendees before the crowd ballooned. The riverfront has also seen violence stretch back to the previous summer: a September 2025 shooting on the bridge injured two people, and an August 2025 shooting nearby wounded two women, with police making arrests in the September case after officers heard active gunfire.
Council Member Warns Bullets ‘Can Only Miss for So Long’
Ward 3 Council Member Michael Rainville, who represents the area, said the community must take care of its youth but stressed that officials cannot address the situation alone. He raised the possibility of closing parks or imposing a curfew for a specific area, and said additional measures beyond what has already been tried may be possible. Officials have already taken steps including closing roads and limiting parking near the bridge, per the KSTP report.
Rainville warned that a participant or resident could eventually be shot and killed if the pattern continues. “Bullets can only miss for so long,” he said, according to the same report. Rainville previously drew backlash in July 2022 after making controversial remarks attributing Fourth of July street chaos and fireworks disruptions near the Stone Arch Bridge specifically to Somali youth, comments that prompted a public apology after condemnation from city colleagues and community groups, according to CBS Minnesota.
Jurisdiction Split Between Two Police Agencies
Any curfew push would run alongside Hennepin County’s existing juvenile nighttime curfew, which requires youth ages 15 to 17 to be off public streets by 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends, while children 12 to 14 must be home earlier. Initial violations bring $25 fines or referral to youth diversion programs, per county rules. Reckless discharge of a firearm within a municipality is itself a felony under Minnesota Statute § 609.66, carrying up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine — with penalties rising to five years if the discharge happens within a designated park zone, according to FindLaw.
Enforcement along the riverfront is complicated by split jurisdiction. The Minneapolis Park Police Department operates as its own law enforcement agency under the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, with more than 30 sworn officers covering 6,800 acres of parkland and parkways surrounding the Stone Arch Bridge and handling over 13,000 service calls annually across city park property, according to the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board. That leaves oversight of the bridge and its approaches divided between park police and the Minneapolis Police Department, which has not provided the status of the investigation into Stuart’s shooting or said whether any arrests have been made.
Stuart has suggested a mix of solutions, including extra security cameras, additional lighting, and more patrols in the area. Citywide, Minneapolis recorded 64 homicides in 2025, down from 77 the year before, alongside an 18 percent drop in total gunshot wound victims, with violent crime continuing to decline nationally through the first half of 2026, according to FOX 9. But for residents like Stuart living steps from the bridge, that broader trend offers little comfort after a bullet came through her own living room.
Development Debate Adds to Riverfront Tensions
The gunfire concerns arrive as the area around the bridge faces other pressures. Developers Lupe Development Partners and Wall Companies have proposed a five-story, 104-unit affordable senior housing building at 600 Main St. SE at the bridge’s eastern foot, a plan Hoodline covered in a story on the senior housing debate at the bridge. The proposal has sparked debate over whether the 0.8-acre parking lot should instead be preserved as public parkland, since the property has carried park and open space guidance since the 1980s, according to Friends of the Mississippi River.
The bridge itself only reopened to pedestrian and cyclist traffic in August 2025, ahead of schedule, after a multi-million dollar structural repair project led by the Minnesota Department of Transportation that began in spring 2024. For now, Stuart says she just wants the crowds gone for good, telling KSTP that the late-night gatherings need to be moved permanently rather than managed hour by hour.
