A Minneapolis non-fatal shooting in summer of 2021 at 13th & Lake St. E., Police performed CPR until the Paramedics arrived (Photo by Dallas Drake).
Minneapolis was struck by two co-occurring
disasters in 2020. First on March 6th the
president announced COVID-19 had appeared
in the United States and soon Minnesota had
developed lethal cases of Corona Virus. The
severeness of the pandemic, combined with
its rapid onset and spread was said to create
pandemic anxiety. But how would this affect
the crime rate, and in particular, homicide?
Then a second disaster hit on May 25th with
the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis
Police Officer. In the subsequent days, rioting
broke out and two police stations were
burned, including the Third Precinct, but also
a police substation at Lake Street and Chicago
Ave. S. Hundreds of businesses were
vandalized, burned, or looted.
Researchers paid particular attention to
deaths during the riots, but also monitored
patterns of news coverage and matched them
with various crime patterns that endured into
2021. The resulting paper illuminates the
timing and impact of the crime wave that
followed.
Surprisingly, few homicides occurred in the
week of unrest. One looter was shot outside
Cadillac Pawn store, and another one was
found burned in the ashes of another store
further east on Lake Street. A third death was
rumored to have occurred inside a liquor store
but turned out to be untrue.
As the weeks and months wore on, homicides
citywide spiked, as did non-fatal shootings,
and other types of violent crimes including
car-jackings. Non-violent crimes remained
low throughout, however.
Despite the nearly record number of murders
in 2021, homicides were still below those of
the drug war during the mid-1990s.