Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara (Minneapolis Police)
MINNEAPOLIS (KFGO/AP) — Authorities arrested a 34-year-old man Thursday in connection with the fatal shootings of four people in Minneapolis, and the city’s police chief said it’s likely another person was killed the next day in retaliation.
Police have said that the four people killed and one other seriously wounded in the multiple shootings were Native American, and authorities strongly suspect the shootings were gang-related. However, Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference Thursday that authorities are still investigating the motives behind the shootings.
The shootings shook a large Indigenous community south of downtown Minneapolis. A 20-year-old woman, a 17-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man were killed in Tuesday’s shootings. A 28-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. The 28-year-old man died Thursday night. A 30-year-old man died in Wednesday’s shooting.
James Ortley faces murder charges.
The first shooting took place just before midnight Tuesday. O’Hara said it’s “entirely probable” that the second shooting with a single victim was a response to the three deaths, and he said someone else was responsible. It occurred about 1 p.m. Wednesday a little more than a mile to the northeast outside an apartment building housing the Minneapolis offices of the Red Lake Nation tribe.
“But beyond that, I can’t speculate further about some ongoing beef,” O’Hara said.
The police chief said police believe the shootings are gang related based on the “lived experience” of the people in the area.
The U.S. Marshals Service said its local fugitive task force and an FBI SWAT team arrested the suspect in the multiple shootings Thursday afternoon. He was being held in the Hennepin County jail and had not been charged as of Thursday evening.
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