Woman Shot Outside Pizza Luce Latest Downtown Minneapolis Incident
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 22-year-old woman is in the hospital after being shot while waiting in line for pizza in downtown Minneapolis.
The shooting happened at about 3 a.m. Saturday. Minneapolis police believe a suspect fired multiple rounds and struck the young woman in the torso.
It's the second time in a month an innocent bystander has been shot in downtown.
It was outside the popular Minneapolis pizza restaurant Pizza Luce that police say a 22- year-old woman was shot while she was waiting in line for a slice of pizza. That's less than a block from the Minneapolis Police First Precinct.
"You don't think of a pizza joint as being dangerous right on the way home from First Avenue. For us it's scary to hear," Julie Pokaski said.
The incident comes less than a month after a man was shot in the leg while he was sitting on the patio at Lyon's Pub on Sixth Street. That happened in daylight.
"When you talk about community policing it needs to be more than just a catch phrase," Jacob Frey of the Minneapolis City Council said.
City councilman Jacob Frey, who is running for mayor, is concerned about the number of shootings.
"I think we have to recognize this is not acceptable in Minneapolis. This is not acceptable in any neighborhood in our entire city," Frey said.
But Minneapolis police say the total number of shootings are down this year. There have been 92 victims with gunshot wounds since Jan. 1. There were 127 victims by the same time last year.
"Someone getting shot on a patio, innocent bystander. Someone getting shot for a slice of pizza? Yeah that's unacceptable," Frey said.
The woman shot outside Pizza Luce was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center. Other bullet rounds damaged two car windows and hit the restaurant wall, which splintered off and hit a police officer. No one else was hurt.
"I normally feel safe around here but hearing about that puts my guard up. I feel a little nervous now," Karen Berglund said.
We learned Saturday night that Minneapolis police have made an arrest in connection to the Lyon's Pub shooting. A 16-year-old boy was booked into a juvenile detention center on Friday.
Late Saturday night, Minneapolis Police Chief Janeau Harteu released a statement to say she is frustrated at the gun violence.
"We have increased the number of officers assigned downtown and all are working very hard. In fact our foot beats are up 1,000 percent in the area. City-wide, we've recovered 399 firearms this year, which is a 60 percent increase over last year's total at this time," Harteau said.
