Minneapolis Police Release Body Camera Video From Loring Park Towers Mass Shooting

Minneapolis police released body camera footage this week from the September 2 shooting at Loring Park Towers, an apartment complex where a man opened fire on residents and officers, killing two people and wounding five others before police shot and killed him.

The footage shows Carlton Johnson emerging from behind a corner on an upper floor of the building and firing at responding officers. Officer Joseph Michnowski was hit and can be heard reporting over radio: "Shooter's on the ninth floor. I took some rounds." Officer Yahye Mahmed Ahmed was also struck, calling out "Oh, I got hit" as yellow smoke filled the doorway around him. Both officers survived their injuries.

Two residents were killed: Dale Henry Spry, 63, and Muse A. Afrah, 61. Five others were wounded, including Drew Evans — Johnson's ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child — along with two building employees and the two officers.

Building owners had been in the process of evicting Johnson at the time of the shooting. Residents told investigators he had threatened neighbors and warned he planned to shoot people. Police had investigated him in June after he displayed a weapon, but prosecutors declined to file charges at that time. At least one person had sought a restraining order against him before the shooting.

Minneapolis police released the body camera video two weeks after the shooting as part of the department's standard review process for officer-involved shootings. Johnson died at the scene, closing off any criminal prosecution of him directly; the video's release is intended to give the public an account of how the encounter unfolded and how officers responded under fire.