2 killed, at least 5 others injured in downtown Minneapolis shooting, suspected shooter also dead

Two people are dead and at least five others were injured, including three officers, after a shooting near 15 East Grant Street Wednesday afternoon in downtown Minneapolis, according to police. The suspected shooter is also dead. 

Officers were dispatched to the scene at 4:36 p.m., and arrived within two minutes from the first 911 call to find one person shot at a high-rise apartment building. Police entered the building, following the sound of gunshots, according to Minneapolis Police Public Information Officer Garrett Parten.

Officers “encountered a haze that significantly limited their visibility” when they reached an upper-level floor, Parten said. Three of the officers were injured in the shooting, and one of them was in surgery Wednesday evening after being shot twice in the stomach. One officer was shot in the leg, and the other officer was being evaluated for a non-life-threatening injury.

Four other people were taken to a nearby hospital, where one person died, according to city officials. Another victim was fatally shot at the scene. 

The shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, sources told WCCO. Multiple law enforcement sources told CBS News that the suspect is 35-year-old Carlton Neal Johnson. Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Bill Peterson said during a news conference Wednesday night that police were familiar with the suspect, though he did not identify him.

Officials say four additional officers experienced “adverse effects after being exposed to an unknown airborne substance,” and two others were injured when a squad car crashed on Nicollet Avenue outside the Target while responding to the shooting.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says that all officers involved are “expected to make a full recovery.”

The scene, at the intersection of Nicollet and Grant, drew an extraordinary show of force from law enforcement agencies well beyond the Minneapolis Police Department.