- A shooting in downtown Minneapolis resulted in two deaths and eight people injured, police say.
- The shooting occurred after a verbal exchange with two people who started shooting at each other, police told NBC News.
- Police are currently investigating the incident.
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A deadly shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, resulted in eight people wounded and two deaths, according to police.
The incident happened in downtown Minneapolis on early Saturday morning at around 2.am on 300 Block N 1st, a Minneapolis police spokesperson told Insider.
"Preliminary investigation reveals that two people were standing in a crowded area and got into a verbal confrontation," the Minneapolis Police Department told Insider in a statement. "Both individuals pulled out guns and began shooting at each other. Seven homicide detectives have been called in to work this case."
There was a total of 10 victims of the shooting – five male and five female, police said. Two of the male victims died.
Eight were wounded and taken to local hospitals for treatment. According to police, seven have "non-life-threatening injuries," while one man is in critical condition.
According to police, most of the victims were transported to Hennepin County Medical Center.
"The Medical Examiner will release the identity of the victims, along with the nature and cause of death in the days to come," the spokesperson said.
-Minneapolis Police (@MinneapolisPD) May 22, 2021
A department spokesperson told CNN that they are gathering evidence, surveillance video, and interviewing people who were at the scene. The suspects are still at large.
The incident followed a separate shooting on Friday where one man died, according to KMSP-TV. Local officials spoke out following the shooting including the Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo who called for and to the "brazen senseless acts of gun violence."
"The perpetrators of these crimes should never find refuge or anonymity in our communities. Minneapolis police officers will continue to rush into harms way to save lives however we need help from community leaders and residents to stand up and speak out denouncing loudly that they will not tolerate this violence as well," Arradondo said, according to KMSP-TV.
"Bottom line is people need to put their guns down," Police spokesperson John Elder told the Star Tribune. "It's as simple as that; there needs to be other ways to solve differences."