One man was hospitalized in a shooting that happened Monday afternoon near the Lake Street-Midtown Light Rail station in South Minneapolis.
Metro Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales was emphatic that the incident had nothing to do with light rail.
"I want to make this clear, this was not transit-related, not a transit-related shooting, as we have drug dealers that hang out here on this corner all the time," Morales explained.
The shooting happened about 3:45 Monday afternoon and the 26-year-old man remains hospitalized.
Morales says there are indications the shooting was planned, with reports of a group of people surrounding the victim before shots were fired by a masked gunman.
"We saw our shooter come from here, where they constantly hang out," he explained. "He crosses our barrier right onto our property where we, just based on boundaries, take the shooting."
The victim remains hospitalized and there are no arrests.
That area around the Lake Street-Midtown Light Rail station has seen a number of issues. In May of 2023, a man was stabbed at the station and at that time, a Minneapolis 9th Ward Councilmember said he witnessed a shooting there as well.
The stop is one of the Blue Line's busiest, and most frequently vandalized. The elevated station is expected to get a makeover in 2025 with that work coinciding with nearby roadwork.