A group of Minneapolis residents sent an open letter to Governor Tim Walz (D) asking that he send in the National Guard or State Troopers, calling Minneapolis “a war zone.” The group of 26 residents said that they have been living amidst violence for long enough.
As was reported by WCCO, Walz responded to the letter on Wednesday saying that “he shares their urgency to want to improve public safety, but that the state patrol and National Guard are not a substitute for a qualified, local police department.”
The letter outlined several incidents that have taken place in North Minneapolis in the last week: “North Minneapolis, the most diverse part of the state, is a war zone, with a child murdered, a man killed when a barbershop was shot-up in broad daylight, a school teacher executed by fully automatic gunfire, a drive by shooting across an elementary school playground with children at recess, a bus evacuated after being shot at.”
The letter also discusses statistics about Minneapolis’ murder rate, sharing that “This year to date the city has seen 69 murders, including young children.” The residents are asking Walz “to immediately send any and all available resources, whether that be State Patrol or National Guard, to Minneapolis to assist the MPD in this time of emergency.”
Deb Wagner, one of the signers of the letter, said in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio that, “I don’t know how they’re going to do it otherwise. It’s going to take a long time for them to hire more cops to get us up to the numbers where our police force doesn’t feel overwhelmed.”
The letter writers placed some of the blame at the feet of the city council and Minneapolis’ Mayor Jacob Frey, saying that they “have failed to do anything to protect us and our children.” They asked that Walz save them from “the death march” that “Minneapolis City Council and Mayor have placed us on.”
Minneapolis has seen a large uptick in violent crimes in the last year. The violence has caused the cancellation of several annual events including the Uptown Art Fair and the Minneapolis Greek Festival.
As was reported by The Minnesota Sun, “A new study found that Minneapolis experienced the fifth-highest increase in homicides in the nation between 2019 to 2021.” Businesses in Minneapolis have also been forced to close their doors due to the violence and crime taking place.
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Hayley Tschetter is a reporter with The Minnesota Sun and The Wisconsin Daily Star | Star News Network. Follow Hayley on Twitter or like her Facebook page. Send news tips to [email protected].
