New information this afternoon on the encampment shootings in Minneapolis.
Police Chief Brian O Hara telling WCCO's Taylor Rivera that they don't believe that 40-year old Earl Bennett is responsible for the shooting on Saturday that left one person dead. Bennett was shot and arrested by St. Paul Police this week.
Bennett is facing charges in the Sunday encampment shooting that left two men dead and a woman in grave condition.
"She may not survive, so it may wind up being a triple murder from that last encampment shooting," O'Hara told WCCO Radio Wednesday.
Chief O'Hara says that encampments are dangerous places, with rampant drug use, specifically fentyal, and not something that law enforcement can manage on its own.
Minneapolis City Councilmember LaTrisha Vetaw also shared what she'd like to see going forward. Vetaw told WCCO's Adam and Jordana they need a new strategy to stop these camps from being set up in the first place.
"What we're allowing when these camps are set up is for predators to go in and prey on people with addiction problems," Vetaw says. "That's why you see six people shot in one weekend. Six people shot in one weekend. Two men shot and killed execution-style. That is serious."
She says providing more addiction and housing resources is only part of the answer and that city leaders will need to tackle the issue collaboratively to get results.
O'Hara agrees that any solution will be a difficult one.
"It is absolutely an uphill battle and it's just part of the reality of many things around crime and violence that are different today than they had been prior to the pandemic," he explained. "The encampments are not safe. There is generally a whole lot of fentanyl use and people involved in, you know, struggling with other mental health and other issues."