3 dead and multiple injured, including police, in downtown Minneapolis shooting

Minnesota Reformer · Max Nesterak · September 3, 2026

A Minneapolis Police Department squad car. Photo by Tony Webster. Three people are dead and multiple others, including three police officers, are injured after a shooting in an apartment building in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday.

Among the dead is the suspected shooter, from unknown causes, according to city officials.

Officers responded to reports of gunfire around 4:30 p.m. at 15 E. Grant St., a high-rise apartment building near Loring Park. Inside, police encountered victims and heard gunfire. They went to the upper floor of the building where they encountered “a haze” limiting their visibility.

One officer was shot in the leg, a second was shot twice in the abdomen and a third was injured by unspecified causes. The three officers were transported to Hennepin Healthcare for treatment for their injuries that were not life-threatening. Four other people were also taken to the hospital, where one died.

“Our Minneapolis police officers acted with incredible bravery and courage,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in a news conference on Wednesday evening. “They rescued victims, brought people to safety … all while getting shot at themselves.”

“But for their heroic work, the death toll would have been far higher,” he said.

The shooting drew a significant police presence with assistance from numerous other agencies including the FBI, state patrol, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and the Saint Paul Police Department. It was a chaotic scene outside the apartment building with at least one police squad car significantly damaged, the back half ripped off from an apparent crash while responding to the shooting.

Interim Police Chief Bill Peterson said many details are still unknown, including a motive. He said they were “familiar” with the suspected shooter but did not identify him.

KARE11 and the Star Tribune identified the suspected shooter as 35-year-old Carlton Johnson II based on unnamed sources with knowledge of the investigation. The news organizations reported Johnson was in the process of being evicted from the apartment building, and court records indicated a history of aggressive behavior.

The shooting appears to have begun as a domestic violence incident.

A resident of the apartment complex, Shoreline Plaza, told the Star Tribune that the suspected shooter made earlier threats, saying earlier this week that he was going to shoot his ex-girlfriend and the two building property managers.

“He said, ‘I’m going to shoot people,’” resident Chris Miller told the paper.

Another bystander told FOX 9 the shooter grabbed her in the building and said he was going “kill my baby mama and you’re gonna witness it.”

“He had the look of doing what he was going to do in his face,” she said.

Gov. Tim Walz issued a statement thanking law enforcement for their work, saying “Minnesota is praying for our first responders.”

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who are running for governor, also released statements praying for victims and thanking first responders.

The Minneapolis shooting comes less than two months after a man shot and killed three workers at an apartment building in St. Paul after arguing with apartment managers about his parking garage contract.

Read the full story at Minnesota Reformer