N. Minneapolis outraged after second child dies by gunfire

7:44 PM, Jun 26, 2012   |    comments
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MINNEAPOLIS--Neighbors are outraged but not surprised by Tuesday's shooting that killed a five-year-old boy.

Now, fear is sinking in, especially for fathers like Tony Ferguson.

"I'm concerned because like I said I have kids that age and this is just terrible" he said.

Anger over the constant violence in the neighborhood is near a boiling point. For Marsha Mayes, who lost her own son six months ago, comes a plea.

"The police need to start sweeping this area. You don't know what's happening out in these houses," she said.

The high crime rate in North Minneapolis is no secret. This year there have been 14 homicides, half of them have been in this area.

But Ferguson said it wasn't always this way. When he moved in nine years ago he felt safe. Lately, he's noticed a shift.

"A couple years ago my fiancé and I were walking down this particular block and we hear shots ring out. We almost got shot back just coming through the neighborhood," Ferguson said.

The uptick in crime already has police monitoring the area more. Now, Mayor RT Rybak is asking residents to step it up.

"We are outraged and should be...(we) ask people to use that anger not to turn to more violence, which will only create more problems, instead to use your outrage to bring forward every piece of information we have to rest this issue," Rybak said.

Putting it to rest will take some time for people who live here. Some of them, like Ferguson, no longer want to walk outside their own homes.

"It's gotten terrible. It's terrible. It's scary sometime to walk around after ten o'clock. When I moved here nine years ago I walked around here probably now I'm scared for my kids to come outside," he said.

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