A shootout in upscale neighborhoods filmed and calls to curb violence

“The next thing you know was just bang, bang, bang and I fell off the couch and looked for some kind of blanket,” Joss J. said. “The gunshots started happening, probably 20 to 25 shots between the two groups of individuals and at that point I called the police who responded to the incident.

Joss J. said he and her fiancé were shocked by what they witnessed and now felt less safe in the neighborhood since they moved there in September.

“We’ve actually been out a lot since we moved here, visited establishments around here, and it’s been going pretty well,” said Joss J. “But now it’s slowing down a bit and we’re not even walking. not very to those places a lot more and it’s more like staying at home now.

Minneapolis now has 91 homicides, the city’s highest total in 25 years, and more than 500 car hijackings have been reported by the Minneapolis Police Department since the first of the year.

Bishop Richard Howell, Shiloh Temple Minneapolis, told KSTP he has seen things in recent weeks slowly start to improve, but added that he would like to see the city devote more resources to at-risk children in the city. neighborhoods with high crime rates.

“We need something on Broadway in the Northside for the kids that is a more positive thing in the neighborhood,” Howell said. “We need a youth center, a bowling alley, a cinema and things like that that will give children the opportunity to enjoy their community without being violent. “

St. Paul has also seen an overall increase in violent crime with police records showing 35 homicides this year – the highest number in city history. There were also a record number of people with gunshot wounds, according to data from the St. Paul Police Department.

Reverend Runney Patterson, of New Hope Baptist Church in the city’s Eastside, told KSTP that his continued efforts with the 21 Days of Peace initiative against targeted crime hotspots have helped mitigate the violence army, but Patterson said more needed to be done at St. Paul.

“We have to open up these recreation centers and we have to continue to reach out to these kids who are not bad people at all,” Patterson said. “We have to make sure that there aren’t just after-hours programs, but even after-midnight programs because there has to be something where we can put these kids in a safe space. “