Over 40 local, state, and federal agencies are launching a new task force to better address gang violence across the metro.
It brings together investigators and intelligence analysts from over dozens of agencies who will be sharing data with Minneapolis Police, the D-E-A, and A-T-F among others.
Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt explains.
"By bringing our expertise and resources together we can make meaningful and a lasting difference," says Witt, "If you ask me, the lesson learned is we can't take our foot off the gas when it comes to any gang violence."
Leaders urged local residents including parents whose own children might be involved in criminal activity to break their silence.
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges.
"If you see something in your house with your kids, you have got to say something," says Hodges, " I know people don't want to turn in their kids for having guns and what not in their house, but they've got to say something."
Law enforcement leaders also doubled down on the fact that this isn't the time to continue to scapegoat the Somali community, because the success of the task force must include buy in from the community.
This collaboration comes after a number of gang-related shootings, including a shooting outside Eden Prairie High School's homecoming football game on October 2nd, that left two people injured and a recent shooting in Bloomington, where one person was injured after more than 100 rounds were fired, is connected to youth gang violence.
Chief Booker says authorities are shifting from a reactive response to a preventative strategy, and pointed to the recent arrest of a teen involved in the October 2nd shooting at Eden Prairie High school as the first of many to come.
