Crime
Minneapolis youths fired fireworks at buildings, each other for hours before police came
More than a hundred people shot off explosive fireworks at each other, pedestrians and buildings - sometimes in moving cars - in downtown Minneapolis on Independence Day evening before being broken up by police, according to multiple reports and social media posts
July 18, 2022 1:40am
Updated: July 18, 2022 2:21pm
More than a hundred people shot off explosive fireworks at each other, pedestrians and buildings - sometimes from moving cars - in downtown Minneapolis on Independence Day evening before being broken up by police, according to multiple reports and social media posts.
A chaotic and violent 4th of a July for Minneapolis last night.
— Rebecca Brannon (@RebsBrannon) July 5, 2022
Over a dozen people were shot while fireworks were launched at buildings and people for hours without any police response.
pic.twitter.com/SktcoB0SmT
A woman and her dog are targeted and attacked by fireworks. Absolutely monstrous. #Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/brulZzEzvS
— Rebecca Brannon (@RebsBrannon) July 6, 2022
"At times there had to have been more than 100 teenagers out here and they were speeding up and down the streets in their cars hanging out of their sunroofs and throwing mortars," resident Chris Chambliss told WCCO, referring to large explosive fireworks usually shot out of a tube.
"People running, I mean you'd hear them screaming and all of a sudden a whole group would be running up the sidewalk and a mortar would blow up right behind them,” Chambliss added, who said he called police around 10:30 p.m.
Overnight in Minneapolis, fireworks were shot at apartment and condo buildings near the intersection of Washington Ave and Portland Ave. Residents say it took hours for police to arrive and disperse the crowd.
— Nick Streiff (@nickstreiff) July 5, 2022
More: https://t.co/mPTbQnxSAr @WCCO pic.twitter.com/fZIDqarwr7
“They were being thrown from cars, people were holding Roman candle flares, but not your normal Roman candle flares, they were the big ones that shoot multiple rounds,” resident Nicky Vegas told ABC 5 KTSP.
“I could hear this noise and I thought ‘they don’t have fireworks today down by the river.’ It was a whole ‘nother world.”
Multiple reports say police were slow to respond. Chambliss said it “took hours.”
And when squad cars arrived, they struggled to clear the huge crowds that had gathered.
"You're sending [officers] in where they're just outnumbered by droves, and that's the concern," local Mike told CBS Minnesota, who saw the groups on the street taunt the cops.
An area businesswoman told WCCO the force of the fireworks was so strong it set off her security alarms.
One TikTok video showed two revelers lighting and throwing a firework through the window of a building, which explode in a shower of sparks.
Minneapolis police were unable to clear out the streets for hours as crowds shot off fireworks at luxury housing around the downtown core, and in one case broke the glass entrance. pic.twitter.com/80u8OLjSNG
— The Minnesota Wild (@lets_go_wild) July 5, 2022
At a Tuesday press conference, Mayor Jacob Frey said that the "recklessness and callous disregard for residents in our city put a damper on a weekend that should otherwise be celebrated."
Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Amelia Huffman said they received over 1,300 calls to 9-1-1 overnight on the Fourth of July, from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. and did not have enough staff on hand that night.
Vegas said he felt like police in the area were handling the situation to the best of their ability.
