A man driving down University Avenue Southeast was shot in the head from a passing vehicle at approximately 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.
The victim was driving three passengers east near the Interstate 35W Bridge when another car drove up beside the vehicle and someone inside fired three or four bullets, said the front seat passenger, who did not give his name.
âÄúI saw the three bullets cross right in front of my face,âÄù the man said.
The driver sustained “non-life threatening wounds” and was still conscious when transported by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center, according to police. None of the other passengers were hurt.
After the shooting, the victim and front seat passenger exited the vehicle to the side of the road, and another passenger took the wheel and drove away before police arrived.
The front seat passenger told Minneapolis Police he didnâÄôt know the two other passengers or who shot at the car.
Police blocked off the intersection for about an hour and said they will investigate the crime.
The victim is a 21-year-old student at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, the front passenger said. An officer at the scene said the victim âÄúwill live.âÄù
Erica Narloch, a University of Minnesota sophomore, was on the phone in her living room in her University Avenue home when she heard something that sounded like fireworks. She looked out the window and saw a maroon sedan full of four or five men, some of whom âÄúrolled out of the carâÄù and into the street.
âÄúIâÄôm pretty freaked out,âÄù Narloch said of the shooting. âÄúI didnâÄôt ever think that would happen on the corner that I live on.âÄù
By 6:30 p.m., University Police were searching a maroon sedan in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. It remains unclear whether the events are related, though police confirmed a car related to the case was recovered.