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Average age of juvenile shooting victims in Minneapolis is younger than 15

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Updated  October 2, 2024 8:16pm CDT
Minneapolis
FOX 9

MPD raises alarm on juvenile shooting data

Data from the Minneapolis Police Department show the average age of juvenile shooting victims in the city is below 15 years old.

The Brief

    • The average age of juvenile shooting victims in Minneapolis this year is now less than 15 years old.
    • 33 young people were shot through the first nine months of 2024, according to police data.
    • The mother of one child told FOX 9 her son was shot twice in separate incidents before the age of 14.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated after the Minneapolis Police Department provided new data on the age of juvenile shooting victims. 

What they’re saying

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - "This is an urgent, urgent, urgent problem. I cannot emphasize that enough," said Minneapolis Police Department Chief Brian O’Hara.

The numbers 

FOX 9 obtained police data for shooting victims who are under the age of 18.

It is the lowest average age for young victims since the pandemic year of 2021 when a handful of toddlers were struck by bullets. The same year, three young children – Trinity Ottoson-Smith, Aniya Allen and Ladavionne Garrett, Jr. – became the innocent faces of tragic gun violence.

"That is overall what is different. They are engaging in crime and in behaviors that are dangerous and that harm not only the community, but also harms themselves," explained O’Hara. "It definitely feels like they have no respect for their own lives, let alone the lives of other people."

August shooting

The chief points to an August shooting of four children, 13 and under, driving around in a stolen Kia. The department believes the automatic gunfire was likely unloaded by someone just as young.

He blames a lot of what is going on right now on a dangerous mix of stolen cars, social media and too many easily available guns with high-capacity modifications.

Desperate mother

Cecelia Rice says her teen son has a history of running around Minneapolis with guns and ripping off cars. He was inside a stolen Kia that crashed into a bus shelter last year while fleeing police, where seven people were injured. He was also shot twice in a six-month span before turning 14 years old.

"It is becoming so dangerous, you know, that it's scary," said Rice. "It's like anything can happen. Someone can shoot him and or whatever the case is, or he could shoot somebody else."

Rice worries her son won’t live to see his 18th birthday, saying, "It's becoming so dangerous, that it is scary. I am more terrified of these kids than anything."

MinneapolisCrime and Public SafetyMinnesota