Minneapolis High-Rise Shooting Leaves Three Dead, Multiple Officers Hurt, and Gunman's Cause of Death Still Disputed

Three days after mass shootings in Trenton and Chicago left three dead and 18 wounded over a single weekend, a gunman opened fire inside a downtown Minneapolis high-rise Wednesday afternoon, killing two people before he was found dead himself, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.

Officers were dispatched to 15 East Grant Street around 4:36 p.m. after a 911 call reporting one person shot, according to CBS News. They arrived within two minutes, found a victim, and followed the sound of continued gunfire into the building and up to a higher floor, Minneapolis Police Sgt. Garrett Parten said at a news conference.

On that floor, officers "encountered a haze that significantly limited their visibility," Parten said. One victim died at the scene. A second victim, one of four people transported to Hennepin County Medical Center, died at the hospital, according to Epoch Times and CBS News. The suspected shooter was also found dead.

Officers hurt in multiple ways

Three Minneapolis officers were directly injured responding to the gunfire, per city officials cited by CBS News: one was shot in the stomach and underwent surgery Wednesday night, one was shot in the leg, and a third suffered a non-life-threatening injury unrelated to gunfire. Separately, four more officers reported "adverse effects after being exposed to an unknown airborne substance" on the upper floor, and two additional officers were hurt when their squad car crashed on Nicollet Avenue while responding to the call, CBS News reported. Gov. Tim Walz said all the officers involved are expected to make a full recovery.

Civilian injury counts vary by outlet. Fox News reported four other people injured. An aggregation by pano.news drawing on 26 outlets put the total at six injured, including the three officers, meaning three civilians. Hennepin Healthcare Medical Center told Fox News Digital it received seven patients overall, three of whom underwent surgery. The discrepancies likely reflect the chaos of a still-developing scene rather than any single outlet getting it wrong.

Suspect identified, motive unconfirmed

Multiple law enforcement sources told CBS News the suspect was 35-year-old Carlton Neal Johnson. Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Bill Peterson said police were "familiar" with the suspect but did not name him publicly at the press conference. No motive has been officially confirmed.

Daily Wire, citing a source who spoke to KSTP, reported the shooting began after police responded to a domestic disturbance involving the suspect, who had reportedly been evicted from his apartment earlier that same day. That account has not been confirmed by Minneapolis police and should be treated as a single-source detail, not an established fact.

Conflicting reports on how the shooter died

Outlets disagree on the cause of the gunman's death. Fox News quoted Sgt. Parten saying it's "unclear how the suspected gunman died," and TODAY reported the same. But sources told WCCO and other local outlets, including a KWWL report flagged by aggregator NewsCord, that a preliminary investigation points to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. As of Wednesday night, Minneapolis police had not issued an official determination, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating alongside local police.

A heavy, multi-agency response

The response drew officers and vehicles from St. Louis Park, Edina, the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota State Patrol, transit police, and sheriff's deputies from surrounding counties, according to CBS News. ATF's St. Paul field division sent special agents to the scene. FBI Director Kash Patel said he was aware of the shooting and pledged "any and all resources necessary to assist local authorities." The city initially told residents to avoid a multi-block downtown area before declaring the scene secure later Wednesday night.

Gov. Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar all issued statements expressing support for victims and officers. The Minnesota Fraternal Order of Police said "two Minneapolis officers were shot today answering the call downtown" and asked for prayers for "the wounded, their families, and the officers still holding the line tonight."

Breitbart's report on the shooting noted that Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun-control group founded by Michael Bloomberg, ranks Minnesota 14th nationally for gun-law stringency. No source in the reporting ties Minnesota's specific gun laws to how this shooting unfolded, and police have not said what weapon was used or how the suspect obtained it. Absent that link, the state's ranking is background context, not an explanation of Wednesday's events.

What remains unresolved: the official cause of the shooter's death, a confirmed motive, and whether Carlton Neal Johnson's prior contact with police, referenced but not detailed by Chief Peterson, played any role in how the encounter escalated. The Minnesota BCA's investigation is ongoing, and Minneapolis police have not announced a timeline for releasing further findings.