Recent Surge Of Gun Violence In Twin Cities Has Community On Edge

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It has been a long week for people who live in areas of the Twin Cities impacted by the recent surge of gun violence.

Within the past 24 hours, nine people were shot in six different incidents, one person died.

A pregnant woman one of the victims of gunfire, as well as two men shot on a basketball court at a South Minneapolis park.

WCCO's Reg Chapman shows us how many in the community are trying to end the violence.

A man in his twenties, gunned down near Farview Park in North Minneapolis, a pregnant woman shot and critically injured in the same location.

The shootings are paralyzing neighborhoods from north to south Minneapolis, some believe they are caught in the middle of a battle between clicks.

"It becomes a Lord of the Flies sort of scenario where young people are aligned against each other in one block to the next and one kind of grouping of all the other to the next," Don Samuels said.

Community leader Don Samuels says people from all different faiths are gathered underneath this tent on west Broadway to silently pray.

"Nobody knows what you are saying in your heart except that we have a common agenda we hate the violence we hate the killings we hate burning of our buildings we want our children to be safe," Samuels said.

Watching and documenting what is going on is 16-year-old Davon Trey Snoody.

"I take them over and I interview them and ask them what they are grieving about," Snoody said.

He is also grieving the losses his community is taking behind all the shootings.

"A couple of weeks ago I was walking up to the store by my house and a little boy got shot in his foot because some other people who had a problem starting shooting and he didn't have nothing to do with it and he got shot," Snoody said.

Davon says his life should not be clouded with thoughts of how to stay alive when bullets begin to fly.

"Should be able to live and just walk around freely without having to worry about getting shot one day or something and end up dying," Snoody said.

Davon says all the shootings has people his age on edge.

"Worrying about someone shooting or just anything happening you just have to be aware of your surroundings all the time and make sure you are just fully aware," Snoody said.

Davon knows faith without works is dead so he is working to understand what is going on in his community in hopes of being a part of the solution to make it stop.

"I'm grieving for it to get better less killings black on black killing," Snoody said.

Police have no one in custody in connection with the most recent shootings.