Rochester police investigating shots fired Thursday night; no injuries reported

Mark Wasson, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·2 min read

Jul. 1—ROCHESTER — Law enforcement is investigating a report of shots fired Thursday night in a northwest Rochester apartment building parking lot, according to Rochester Police Captain Casey Moilanen.

According to Moilanen, witnesses saw a person on foot pull out a handgun and fire three or four round at a white vehicle at The Gates of Rochester apartments on the 2000 block of 41st Street Northwest. No injuries or damage were reported, though law enforcement did find broken glass in the parking lot they believe could be from a window of the vehicle shot at.

Law enforcement has not found the victim, the victim's vehicle, a suspect or spent shell casings. The suspect, who left on foot, is described as a Black man with a thin build between 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 8 inches. Witnesses said he was wearing all black and a mask that covered his face and head. The investigation is ongoing.

This is at least the fourth report of shots fired in Rochester police have responded to in a little over a month. No injuries have been reported in any of these shootings.

A Rochester man is currently being held on a $1 million bail on a second-degree attempted murder charge related to a May 21, 2022

late-night shooting at a Rochester gas station parking lot.

Lionell Bailey, 38, is accused of firing at a man at a northwest Rochester Holiday gas station. The man was not hit but bullets were found lodged inside a residence near the gas station.

Law enforcement also responded to a

drive-by shooting June 3, 2022

in northwest Rochester and a

May 20, 2022 shooting

at condominiums in northwest Rochester.

A landlord of a northwest Rochester residence that was hit by gunfire from the June 3 shooting told the Rochester City Council

his tenants are scared

.

"He does not feel safe," said Pat Ryan, who owns several rental properties in the area. "He does not feel the neighborhood is safe anymore."

Moilanen said the department has a gun violence strategy that they're working on to deal with shootings in Rochester.

"They rise to the top of our priorities as a department," Moilanen said. "We throw all the resources that we have on each of these shootings to get them investigated and resolved."