2023-12-13 01:40:00
A 45-year-old man was fatally shot Tuesday evening inside an unsheltered encampment in south Minneapolis, according to a Minneapolis police public information officer.
The shooting took place at Camp Nenookaasi around 5:15 p.m.
The injured man was taken by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center, where police said he died from gunshot wounds.
Minneapolis police officers arrested one individual suspected of the shooting.
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Camp Nenookaasi is run by Native organizers and community volunteers and is situated on a corner lot west of the Indigenous Peoples Task Force on 23rd Street and 13th Avenue in the East Phillips neighborhood.
Organizers of the encampment estimate the camp currently houses as many as 180 unsheltered people in tents, yurts and other temporary lodgings.
Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for the city of Minneapolis had said the city would move back a planned eviction of the camp from Dec. 15 to Dec. 19. It’s unclear whether the fatal shooting might lead Minneapolis officials to change that plan.
In a statement to MPR News early Tuesday, a spokesperson for the city said the additional time would allow the city to work “closely with partners to get dozens more community members into housing.”
In a separate statement to city leaders shared with MPR News Tuesday followingnoon, Camp Nenookaasi organizers responded to the city’s extension. They said the extension allows just two business days for housing workers to complete outreach to as many as 130 people who have yet to secure permanent housing.
“Disruption to these existing services without a plan as to how connections to outreach can remain intact and continuous is both wasteful and inhumane,” said camp organizers.
The city of Minneapolis maintains the decision to pull down the camp is “driven by ongoing public safety and public health issues.”
The city said it has been working with a local community center to offer daytime shelter and services to community members who may still be on site on December 19.
Camp organizers said the offer of a warming place at daytime centers “represents scraps” and will “perpetuate the very conditions city officials claim to hold in concern.”
Camp organizer Nicole Mason said the additional time provided by the city is not enough for housing workers to meet the many needs of the camp’s residents. She and other organizers are asking the city to allow the camp to remain at its current location through the end of January.
“We are not asking for a permanent [encampment]. We’re not asking to stay here on this land forever,” says Mason. “But we need some solutions that will benefit the people.”
In their statement early Tuesday followingnoon, Mason, along with other camp organizers, demanded the city, county and housing non-profits meet with camp organizers and residents to discuss the pending transition, create a permanent navigation center, and work to coordinate a more effective response to homelessness.
News of the extension follows a letter issued on December 8 by the Minneapolis Urban Indian Directors, a group of Indigenous tribal and non-profits leaders who say they have called on the city to clear the encampment citing incidents of violence to the unsheltered community and the surrounding neighborhood.
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