MINNEAPOLIS — In a press conference Friday afternoon, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said the MPD and its law enforcement partners made at least 30 arrests and issued five citations as a chaotic Fourth of July celebration unfolded in Dinkytown.
“While no one was injured this year, we certainly came close," O'Hara said.
Dinkytown received an unwanted Fourth of July fireworks show late Thursday night as people launched fireworks at passersby, officers and nearby property.
Of those arrested, O'Hara said the group was made of 27 adults and eight juveniles, ranging in age from 15 to 23. He said the vast majority of the action took place in the Dinkytown area near the University of Minnesota, and that 28 of those arrested appear to have come in from other cities, while five appeared to be from out of state.
O'Hara said most of those arrested face felony rioting charges but those determined to have deliberately targeted individuals with explosives will be charged with assault.
He said the number of arrests is likely to increase as the investigation continues, adding police are currently going through video footage from Thursday night and planning to release some of it to the public "to give folks a better sense of the seriousness of what's happening."
"We understand it's the Fourth of July, some people are gonna shoot off fireworks," said. "We're most concerned about this really, really dangerous and just stupid behavior of shooting them at random people."
KARE 11 photographer David Peterlinz was in Dinkytown Thursday night and spoke with O'Hara after a group threw a mortar in his direction at an intersection.
“I was standing at the intersection one block over, there were a couple of troopers with us ... and a group ran up from behind us and threw a large mortar at us landing in the street a couple feet away," O'Hara said.
In Friday's press conference, O'Hara said the explosion "shook" his body.
O'Hara said Thursday that officers arrested two juveniles after that incident.
"The ridiculous behavior that goes on here as far as people throwing mortars, and explosives really at people or at buildings is outrageous," he said. "And we're doing everything that we can to identify the specific individuals in these groups that are responsible for that and arresting them, towing their cars whenever possible.”
In a press conference July 3, O'Hara said he was concerned about teens coming into the city from outside of Minneapolis to create a viral video.
"These are out-of-towners, not people from Minneapolis, coming here and disrupting our residents' lives," O'Hara said.
When asked Friday about people traveling to Minneapolis for the holiday, seemingly in an effort to cause mischief, the chief said, "I think it’s important, especially when it just feels like there’s so many people that attack Minneapolis or kind of want Minneapolis to fail, or sort of label all of our residents in a certain way, it’s just a fact the majority of the people we are coming into contact with that are causing these problems are not residents of the city."
O'Hara said more than 200 extra law enforcement officials were part of a "robust plan" to keep residents safe. He said that effort will continue this weekend as Minneapolis hosts events like Taste of Minnesota.
"I really have to say, I'm extremely thankful to Minneapolis police officers, the state troopers that were out here, all the cops that were out here for 12-plus hours, away from their family again on the holiday in just very dangerous conditions."
KARE 11 reached out to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office for comment following the Friday press conference. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson said:
"The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office is reviewing all cases that have been submitted to our office related to last night’s incidents in Minneapolis for potential charging. We received case submissions for 17 adults and two youth arrested overnight, and all are under review.
"We expect law enforcement to submit cases for one additional adult and three additional youth. Our office worked closely with our law enforcement partners overnight last night and throughout the day today, and will continue to do so as we receive and review cases for charging related to this conduct."
Despite the mayhem, the chief said this year's July 4 is overall less chaotic than previous years.
“It's not as bad as last year and the problems we've been seeing, are over here [in] Dinkytown on the east side of the river," he said.
In comparison,16 people were arrested for fireworks incidents in 2023 and 11 of those were juveniles.
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