Minneapolis police investigate two weekend shooting deaths

Police are investigating two gunshot deaths in north Minneapolis after finding two men lying on the ground with gunshot wounds on Saturday.

According to a department news release, police responded to the first report of a shooting at 11:30 a.m. on 34th Avenue North between James and Knox avenues.

When officers arrived, they found an unconscious 25-year-old man lying outside a vehicle with life-threatening gunshot wounds. He was not breathing.

The scene seemed all too familiar to officers who were still investigating a shooting that had taken place just two days earlier in the south of the city and left three people dead, including their colleague.

“In the same way, Officer Jamal Mitchell located a suspect just last Thursday,” said Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

Department spokesman Sergeant Garrett Parten added, “For many of these officers, there was hardly any respite.”

Both men who were shot on Saturday received first aid at the scene before being taken to hospital where they were pronounced dead.

Sergeant Parten said the department has no compelling reason to believe the incidents are related, but will take this into account in the investigation due to the time gap between the shootings.