Police investigate whether north Minneapolis fire, shootings were connected
By Reg Chapman
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MINNESOTA (WCCO) — Investigators are working to determine if two shootings that happened a block away from a fire they’re calling “suspicious” are connected.
The fire happened late Thursday on the 3200 block of Penn Avenue and prompted a large response, including the crime lab.
Video on social media shows police rushing in before firefighters arrived to pull people out to safety. Fire crews came on scene to heavy smoke and fire coming from the first floor apartment.
“They rescued about four people last night,” said property owner Omar Robe.
One of the tenants says he and his friend barely made it out with their lives.
“They had been working all day at some other apartments that we own, and then they came home tired, and they were sleeping,” said Robe. “Then all of a sudden after sleeping for about an hour, they just woke up because the building was burning down.”
Members of the Red Cross are helping four residents, as the home is now considered uninhabitable.
According to police, one person said they were walking near the 3200 block of Penn Avenue and heard a gunshot, before realizing they were hit. Law enforcement say an argument may have happened before the shootoing.
The victim drove themselves to the hospital with survivable injures. A second person was taken to the same hospital after he was shot on the 3300 block of Penn Avenue.
Investigators are working to see if there is any connection between the shootings and the fire.
People ran into the apartments and took TVs, valuables and clothes from the units that were not burned. A fund has been set up to help those displaced by the fire.
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