Witness recounts horror of finding man shot in car with kids in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Edwin Reed is still very distraught about what he saw this past Friday afternoon when a vehicle pulled up in front of his business with a gunshot victim in the passenger seat and children in the back.

"I can’t even tell you how I feel," he recounted. "Seeing these kids in the car and seeing what they saw."

The victim had been shot in the head while sitting in the car at 41st and Chicago. Police say it was in no way random.

The driver, the mother of his children, then drove to 38th and Chicago looking for help. Edwin was just leaving his business, Sincere Detailing Pros, just north of the intersection, also known as George Floyd Square.

"I saw a lady drive by screaming out her window, saying help, help, help."

Edwin called 911. And he says it is just one more incident near this intersection that has made him feel unsafe and driven his customers away.

"The fear that this area is lawlessness, you know, there’s no law over there. So people are scared to come shop with me and that’s what I’m seeing."

His business has been here for eight years. He says it’s a shadow of what it was before George Floyd’s murder, which led to the streets being barricaded for a time. He says there still feels like a lack of police presence and response here.

"We used to take in 25 cars a week," he says. "We’re barely getting six cars a month."

Last November, four businesses at 38th and Chicago, all in the building that used to be Cup Foods, filed a civil suit against the city of Minneapolis, alleging a failure to provide police protection that seriously hurt business, tanked property values, and gave the impression this area was a "no-go zone" for police.

Attorney Michael Healey filed that suit. He’s now preparing a similar lawsuit on behalf of Edwin’s business.

"All of my clients have reported 911 calls repeatedly since the murder of George Floyd where police just don’t come," alleged Healey.

The suit he already filed last year asks for more than $1.5 million in damages due to lost business. He’s still preparing the new suit and expects to serve the city in the next week or so.

"Police have to come," says Healey. "You can’t abandon the residents of Minneapolis, the business owners of Minneapolis when they call."

Police response to Friday’s incident was fairly quick. The 911 call is recorded at exactly 5 p.m., while the officers arrived 3 1/2 minutes later.

Edwin says it felt so much longer than that.

He’s looked at moving his business but doesn’t have the means. He’d prefer just feeling safer where he is.

"As far as then being over there and feeling like I’m protected, I don’t feel protected over there as a business owner."