Impacts of Minneapolis’s Unchecked Gun Violence

August 28, 2021

MINNEAPOLIS - In the aftermath of this week’s shooting at the intersection of Lake Street and Lyndale Avenue, mayoral candidate and nearby resident Clint Conner went door-to-door, talking to business owners and employees about gun violence across the city.

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Early Thursday morning, reports of multiple shots fired came into 911 call centers. It was later determined that at least seven people were shot. Automatic weapons were used.

A recent North High School graduate and future nursing student, Mykia Carpenter, was shot in the neck. The bullet damaged the 18-year-old’s artery, trachea, and vocal cords. 

According to reports, people held a shirt against her wound while they waited for help to arrive. As of Saturday afternoon, Mykia was still listed as being in critical condition, having required lifesaving, nine-hour surgery. 
 

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Mr. Conner, a resident of nearby Lowry Hill, spent Thursday morning speaking to the Lyn-Lake community. He is running on a platform of safe streets; stable, affordable, and livable housing for all; and a small business boom. His platform is well-received by locals. His plans to boost morale in the police department and roll out recruitment incentives resonate with people because they see that the anti-police narrative has created space for brazen violence and disincentivizes people from joining the force.

“There is a very organized effort in our city to push the ‘defund the police’ agenda, and until now, it has dominated the conversation about the future of public safety in our city,” said Conner.  “At the same time, our Mayor, in whom our City Charter vests authority over the police force and who has had all levers of media at his disposal, has allowed a harmful narrative to take root in this city that police are bad.  As a result, we have lost over 200 police, and the good police still with us are stretched way too thin.”

Business owners agree that the negative narrative around policing has allowed crime to take hold.

Minneapolitans are frustrated with the current administration’s lack of progress on the issues of policing and gun violence. Conner heard a common theme from local businesses: no one from the Mayor’s office has been working with the local community to address the violence.  
 

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“Times like these call for the Mayor to be out in the community non-stop,” says Conner. “Being a mayor in good times might be easy, but leading us back to good times takes hard work and a commitment to being out in front of the issues and on the front lines.”