2 dead and multiple people injured — including police officers — in mass shooting at downtown Minneapolis apartment building

By Cindy Von Quednow, Dalia Faheid, Julianna Bragg, Taylor Galgano, Rob Kuznia, CNN

(CNN) — Officers confronted a barrage of gunfire, their vision clouded by a haze, as they responded to a shooting at a Minneapolis apartment building Wednesday that left at least two people dead and injured multiple others, officials said.

Police exchanged gunfire with the shooter as they rushed to rescue victims and bring them to safety, Minneapolis Police Interim Chief Bill Peterson said. Three officers were injured, two of them by gunshots.

The shooter, who officials have not yet named, was also confirmed dead, officials said. Peterson said police “were familiar with who this individual was.”

The mass shooting forced residents to flee the halls and hide in apartments as the chaotic scene unfolded.

What appears to be dozens of officers poured into the apartment building in response to the shooting, video obtained by CNN affiliate WCCO shows. Officers armed with long guns can later be seen keeping watch outside as several people are wheeled out from the building on stretchers. The area was surrounded by police cruisers, armored vehicles and ambulances.

“But for their heroic work, the death toll would have been far higher,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a news conference Wednesday night.

One person died at the scene and another died at a hospital, Minneapolis city officials said. Another three civilians were shot and are being treated at a hospital.

The tragedy comes as Americans are increasingly seeing mass shootings in everyday public spaces. It happened only 5 miles away from Annunciation Catholic Church, where a shooter killed two children and wounded 27 others just a year ago, shaking a community bedrock.

How the shooting unfolded

The shooting was reported around 4:36 p.m. local time with initial information indicating one person had been shot, Minneapolis Police Sgt. Garrett Parten said during a news conference Wednesday.

Then, more calls came in reporting more gunfire, Parten said.

Officers rushed to the high-rise apartment building and found wounded people in the lobby. They followed the sound of the gunfire to an upper floor of the building, where they encountered “a haze that significantly limited their visibility.”

“We don’t know whether it was smoke or if there was some some other event that caused that haze in the in the upper level floor,” Peterson said. Four officers experienced “adverse effects” after being exposed to the unknown substance, city officials later said.

Gunfire could be heard on responding officers’ radio transmissions and throughout the building, Peterson said.

One officer was shot in the leg, and had a non-life-threatening injury, and another was taken in for surgery, the sergeant said. The third officer was being evaluated for a non-life threatening injury.

“As officers quickly moved from unit to unit to assist anyone who needed help, I can’t emphasize enough how dangerous this situation was and how heroic our officers were in response,” the mayor said.

The three officers, who suffered non-life threatening injuries, are expected to make a full recovery, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday night.

Peterson said it’s still unknown how the shooter died. A preliminary investigation indicates the person likely died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a law enforcement source told CNN.

Earlier in the day, police were called to the same complex to check on a dispute, which may have been related to an individual in the process of eviction, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the incident.

Officials are working to determine if that person is also the shooter.

Residents hide from barrage of bullets

Umecua Agnew, 48, was in her building’s elevator when she heard gunfire coming from the lobby. She quickly pulled back a little girl in the elevator with her who was about to step out.

“I grabbed her back and I hit the button so the elevator could go up … so we wouldn’t get shot,” she told CNN.

Women with Agnew in the elevator screamed “oh my God” when they realized that someone was shooting, she said. They quickly pushed buttons as fast as they could to get the doors to close.

“I just kept praying to the Lord, saying, ‘let me make it to my apartment and don’t get shot,’” Agnew said.

The sound of gunfire echoed through the building as the elevator dropped off the girl and her mother on the third floor then stopped on the fifth floor.

When the elevator finally got to Agnew’s floor, the eighth floor, she ran into her apartment. She quickly locked the door and rushed into her bathroom before calling her mother in tears as she heard what sounded like the gunshots continuing in her hallway.

“I didn’t know what he was gonna do. It just seemed like he was outside the door shooting,” Agnew said.

About 15 minutes later, she heard officers telling residents to exit the building, and she walked through the hallway to meet them. Police escorted her down eight flights of steps and out of the building – the sound of gunshots still in the background.

Agnew, who moved into the building in April, had an anxiety attack after the shooting and needed to go to the emergency room, she said.

Across the street, Joshua Curry was watching TV in his sixth-floor apartment when he heard the gunshots. The 22-year-old ran out to his balcony and filmed a chaotic scene of officers aiding a victim and people scattering as the shots rang out.

“It was just a mess,” Curry said.

‘Sickened and deeply saddened’

Peterson praised officers who “responded without hesitation” and “confronted an extraordinarily dangerous situation.”

“I am just truly sickened and deeply saddened that once again there is a senseless crime of gun violence that took the lives of more than one innocent victim and injured numerous others,” the interim police chief said.

Walz expressed his gratitude to law enforcement in a post Wednesday.

“Grateful to law enforcement actively working to ensure the safety of our neighbors in Downtown Minneapolis this afternoon,” Walz said in a post Wednesday. “Minnesota is praying for our first responders.”

“We’re keeping all of the victims in our prayers as more information about this tragic shooting unfolds,” he said.

By Wednesday evening, the intersection of the high rise was taped off and nearby streets were glutted with flashing police vehicles as officers with long rifles and dogs streamed into and out of the building.

The surrounding area is home the Minneapolis Convention Center, hotels, a hospital and scenic Loring Park.

Police kept frustrated residents from returning to the apartment complex as the investigation continued. Officers at one point shouted through a bullhorn at a man who wandered into the cordoned off zone and shoved him to the other side of the barrier.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI were responding to the shooting, the agencies said earlier on X.

Nearby University of St. Thomas’ Minneapolis campus had issued a shelter-in-place order “out of an abundance of caution” earlier Wednesday, a spokesperson told CNN.

Officials said they are working to get residents back into their apartments “as soon as possible.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Jennifer Feldman, Amanda Jackson, Mark Morales and John Miller contributed to this report.