Drive-by shooter wounds two Guard soldiers

Sentinel duty by night. Soldiers on security duty at the massive Theodore Wirth park, which is as large as Central Park in New York City. Images: Minnesota National Guard, Minneapolis Park System

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. – Two Minnesota National Guard soldiers were shot, one of them downed with shattered glass, in in this northwest Minneapolis suburb about 4:20 a.m. The glass cuts required hospitalization. The other soldier was wounded only superficially. Guard blamed a drive-by shooter in a light-color vehicle. Guard members and Minneapolis police officers were providing security just east of the entrance to the 840-acre Theodore Wirth park and golf course when they were targeted. The park is 10 miles southwest of Brooklyn Center, the focal of a week of racial unrest since the shooting of 20-year-old Duante Wright in a police traffic stop. The Guard has 5,000 soldiers on duty or stand-by after the Daunte Wright death last week and the trial in Minneapolis of Derek Chauvin for the May 2020 death of George Floyd. In both cases white police were arresting black men.

Earlier: 136 arrests overnight in civic protests

Verbatim

Shawn Manke, adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard: “I am relieved to know none of our Guardsmen were seriously injured. This event highlights the volatility and tension in our communities right now. I ask for peace as we work through this difficult time.”