More prime time crime in Minneapolis

Rambix has been following the escalating trend of "prime time" crime in Minneapolis. While all crime is bad, of course, one used to be able to avoid it for the most part by staying away from certain hot spots, particularly late at night.

Violent crime is now encroaching on the "average person" in Minneapolis: the daytime workers, and the tourists, as extensively documented in previous Rambix and the Red Star posts. You won't see a comprehensive story on this in the Red Star. They'll report the individual crimes (usually on the back pages), but won't put the stories together in a comprehensive crime trend analysis. That's one of the missions of this blog. When violent crime shifts from criminal-on-criminal to average people as noted above, we need to take notice and act accordingly.

Here's the latest mayhem:

"Minneapolis recorded its 27th and 28th homicides on Tuesday, far ahead of the pace of 16 deaths at this time last year.

The dying began early, when, at about 5 p.m., a man was fatally shot in the middle of E. Lake Street, which was filled with pedestrians and commuters.

"We've got a case, and you're seeing more, of a shooting in prime time," Minneapolis police spokesman Ron Reier said. "We're fortunate that more people weren't hurt.""

While East Lake St. is not a great part of town, it's frequented during day hours by tourists, shoppers, light rail riders, and business people. And later in the day, another murder:

"About six hours later, residents in the 600 block of Lowry Ave. N.E. reported shots fired, police said. When officers arrived, they found a man shot to death. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said."

How about if you're in a wheelchair? Are you safe? Apparently not:

"A stranger sexually assaulted a 38-year-old woman in a wheelchair Saturday evening in downtown Minneapolis."

Apparently no one is safe in Minneapolis lately. Rambix again calls for boy-Mayor Ryback to get control of his city.