🚀 Who is shooting in Brackett Park?
Neighbors and officials met Monday to troubleshoot a new trend of people firing guns in the park late at night.
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More than 75 neighbors and a panel of city officials met last night to discuss a recent uptick in gunfire in and around Brackett Park — specifically, what appears to be a new pastime of people showing up to the park in the middle of the night, to fire at nothing in particular, before speeding off.
Background
Neighbors have documented at least eight instances of late-night gunfire coming from the park since November, including three nights in a row on December 14-16, and as recently as early Saturday morning. Most follow a similar pattern: Late at night, people near the park report hearing multiple rounds of gunfire, then seeing people running back to a car, often with its lights off, speeding away. Then, finding shell casings in the park the next day, usually near the playground or tunnel. All without any reports of injuries or property damage.
(There have also been two more explicitly violent episodes recently: In October, a young man was robbed of his phone at gunpoint after coming out of the park bathroom in the late afternoon; last month, two cars exchanged a volley of gunfire around 11 p.m. at 37th Avenue and 29th Street. One of the late-night gunfire incidents may have come from a car targeting someone in the park, according to a witness.)
Police say they’ve looked into the string of events but don’t have much evidence to go on. So far, there have yet to be any detailed eyewitness sightings of the people doing the shooting. Neighbors have been able to make general descriptions of a getaway car, but don’t have license plate numbers. There are no cameras in the park, and no doorbell cameras have captured any identifiable images of people or vehicles. Police have run the shell casings through a system that matches them to guns used in known crimes, and have come up with no matches.
Park Board Police Chief Jason Ohotto says his working hypothesis is that it’s likely a small group of young people shooting for fun, attracted to Brackett’s secluded location and easy getaway routes. Officials say it's part of a broader increase in gun play and violence they've seen among young people across the city.
Response
The group of neighbors who organized the panel has been working to piece together the various accounts, footage, and evidence reported across the neighborhood. And, as one organizer put it, to brainstorm “what we can do that would make people not see this as a place they want to come and shoot guns.”
A number of such actions were discussed at the meeting, and each assigned a neighborhood point person to follow up on:
- Lighting: Several people raised the idea of leaving the towering field lights on overnight to deter mischief. Paul Jaeger, who manages Longfellow-area parks, said that could be an option, but that such use of lights at parks tends to draw complaints, so park officials would want consensus from neighbors before doing so. Some expressed aversion to shining the lights late at night, while others called for a limited-time run as an attempt to interrupt the current pattern.
Park staff also said they’d look into adding more light to the northeast corner of the park, which has also been an issue area.
On 38th Avenue, a group of neighbors strung up lights along the boulevard trees as an additional deterrent. - Cameras: Jose Gomez, Third Precinct Inspector for the Minneapolis Police Department, said they’re planning to install a mobile camera unit as soon as temperatures allow. (Most of the remote units don’t work in the cold, though there are a few insulated units that can operate as low as 0 degrees.)
Like most city parks, Brackett doesn’t have external security cameras, and there aren’t currently funds budgeted to install them. Park Board Commissioner Becky Alpert said it may be possible to fundraise separately to install a system and committed to investigating the idea further. - Continuing to call in reports: Officials urged residents to continue calling 911 every time they suspect they hear gunshots or find bullet casings. They advised providing as much identifying information as possible but leaving any bullet casings untouched.
- Traffic calming: Several people rehashed longstanding frustrations over reckless driving and joyriding near the park, particularly along 28th Street.
Neighbors submitted an application through the city's formal process for permanent traffic calming features on the stretch, and are awaiting to hear whether it'll be granted. - Walking groups: Inspector Gomez touted the general effectiveness of citizen walking groups for deterring crime, while acknowledging that the current pattern of gunfire is happening later than a walking group would likely meet. He said the department offers training and support for such groups.
The group plans to reconvene within the next month or two to check on the progress of those measures. Anyone interested in learning more or getting involved can e-mail brackettneighbors@gmail.com.