A Brooklyn Park man has been formally charged with attempted murder nearly a year after he allegedly shot a sleeping man in the face under a Minneapolis bridge, leaving him permanently blind in one eye. Anthony Louis Rowe, 32, was charged Monday in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, and first-degree aggravated robbery in connection with the November 14, 2025, shooting near Cedar Avenue and 17th Avenue.
According to FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul, officers responded to reports of a robbery and shooting near the bridge and found the victim with a gunshot wound to the face before he was taken to a hospital. Surveillance footage reportedly captured the shooting itself, and court documents say Rowe fired at the victim before fleeing the scene. The charges were formally filed nearly ten months after the shooting, a timeline that MN Crime ties to a lengthy investigation spanning multiple leads.
A Robbery That Turned Violent Under the Bridge
Per the charges, the victim told investigators he was asleep in a tent when he woke to hear his girlfriend arguing with Rowe. He said Rowe demanded he empty his pockets and hand over his bag, and allegedly threatened to kill him when he refused. The victim also told investigators Rowe claimed to have three bodies, according to the same charging documents.
The injuries described in the charges are severe and lasting. The victim sustained a bullet entry wound above his eye, with damage through the back of the eye and a broken jaw, and he can no longer see out of the injured eye. He now suffers frequent seizures and limited hearing, according to the charges detailed by the station's report.
A Trail That Took Investigators Nearly a Year
The case took an unusual path to formal charges. Just days after the shooting, on November 20, 2025, Rowe's probation officer reported that a witness said Rowe had admitted to shooting the victim and planned to flee the state, per court documents. Rowe had also cut off his ankle monitor on November 11, 2025, and had an outstanding arrest warrant by the time the probation officer's report surfaced.
Officers later found Rowe allegedly involved in a drug deal under the same bridge where the shooting occurred, leading to his arrest on a separate charge of being a prohibited person in possession of a gun, according to court documents. Rowe has been in custody since December 2025 for that unrelated offense. Investigators got another break in May 2026, when an inmate told them a robbery had gone bad and that Rowe was the shooter, per the same account of the charging documents.
Maximum Penalties Under Minnesota Law
Rowe's most serious charge, second-degree attempted murder, carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison under Minnesota Statutes — half the 40-year maximum for a completed second-degree murder. The first-degree assault charge, tied to the infliction of great bodily harm, also carries a maximum of 20 years and a fine of up to $30,000 under state law. The first-degree aggravated robbery count, stemming from the alleged demand for the victim's belongings before the shooting, likewise carries a maximum of 20 years and a fine of up to $35,000 when a dangerous weapon is involved or bodily harm results.
Rowe has a court appearance scheduled for October 1, 2026.
Part of a Broader Push on Non-Fatal Shootings
The case lands amid a citywide shift in how Minneapolis handles shootings where the victim survives. In March 2026, the Minneapolis Police Department launched the Firearm Assault Shoot Team, a multi-agency unit created to give non-fatal shootings the same urgent investigative response typically reserved for homicides, according to MPR News. The move followed years of strain: in 2025, homicide detectives cleared only about 40% of non-fatal shooting cases they investigated, compared to an 80% clearance rate for homicides, MPR News reported separately.
Gun violence remains a persistent concern even as broader numbers trend downward. By late July 2026, Minneapolis had already recorded 123 non-fatal shooting incidents involving 138 gunshot victims for the year, per CBS News. That comes after Minneapolis logged 64 homicides in 2025, down from 77 the year before, alongside an 18% drop in non-fatal gunshot victims citywide, according to FOX 9. A Council on Criminal Justice report cited by KARE 11 found homicide rates in Minneapolis fell 30% in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier.
Statewide, the toll of gun violence remains heavy. Minnesota Department of Health data released in 2025 showed 564 people died from gun violence across the state in 2024, with homicides accounting for 148 of those deaths and suicides making up 406, according to Protect Minnesota. Shootings tied to encampments and overpasses, like the one where the victim in this case was sleeping, continue to be a focus for Minneapolis public safety operations even as overall violent crime trends downward.
