Brooklyn Park Police say a night of violence forced them to shut down businesses in the area of 63rd and Zane Avenue. Large groups of young people were involved in a shooting around 6pm, and then nearly two hours later, as police were on the scene, another shooting happened.
Deputy Chief Mark Bruley says it's the latest incident in weeks of violence that is compounded with a deliberate attempt to antagonize police officers.
"They're begging for the conflict. It's nothing short of they're asking us to come fight with them. They all have their cell phones out and they want to encourage the conflict. It's almost baiting and we encourage our officers to walk away from it. It's not worth it. I support that, they're just making a bad choice. We all make bad choices when we're young."
Bruley says that this security footage was taken from the first round of gunshots with the juveniles last night. At 6pm, eight rounds were fired into the group. It is unclear if there are any injuries.
This has been a problem for the city of Brooklyn Park for the last three weeks. Last week, there was a shooting that had some injuries, but those injured aren't cooperating with the police. Bruley says the group of juveniles is also interfering with the department after incidents happen.
"After that second shooting last night, the scene was pretty chaotic. The group refused to leave and was tearing down crime scene tape and not allowing officers to really keep the integrity of the crime scene itself. And because of the environment and the risk to everybody involved we shut down all the businesses based on what was going on around there."
During this stretch, businesses in the area have had multiple meetings with police to try to figure out the best way to stop the mayhem. Besides the shootings that have happened, Brooklyn Park Police report there have also been robberies, assaults and multiple other calls that have brought officers to that area. Bruley says that businesses have volunteered to shut down because these groups have continued to attempt to loot these businesses during open hours. Deputy Chief Bruley says that this issue shouldn't be happening.
"This is a problem that has to stop."
