Innocent Bystander Killed in Wednesday Night Rolling Gun Battle

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Police say a woman riding a scooter on a sidewalk was struck and killed by one of two vehicles involved in an exchange of gunfire in downtown Minneapolis.

Dispatchers took several calls about the gunfire Wednesday about 11 p.m. The rolling gun battle ended when both vehicles crashed. One of the vehicles left the street and struck the woman on a scooter.

“She was an innocent bystander of what appears to be a violent exchange between cars,” Minneapolis police spokesman Garrett Parten told WCCO-TV. “It is upsetting to see this kind of violence result in this kind of death.”

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

Four occupants of the vehicles were taken to a hospital with injuries.

The woman’s death comes as gun violence has spiked in Minneapolis in the past year, and as city voters mull whether to replace the city’s police department with a new agency in the wake of George Floyd’s death. The force is down by nearly a third from its authorized level of officers due to a wave of departures and disability leaves.

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