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Isra Hirsi, daughter of U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, speaks at a rally of students against gun violence in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In the past two weeks, three children have been shot in the head in Minneapolis. These were separate incidents and the children are unrelated. All three are under twelve years old and are currently fighting for their lives at hospitals across the city.
While many cities are experiencing an uptick in crime, including a pandemic-fueled surge in deadly drag races, emotions are especially raw in Minneapolis as the city nears the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.
The first child to be shot was ten-year-old Ladavionne Garrett Jr. On April 30, he was riding in a car with his parents when someone opened fire, striking the young boy in the head.
His family lives in the central Minnesota city of St. Cloud and had just arrived in Minneapolis for a visit with Ladavionne’s grandmother when their car was shot at, according to local news coverage.
Ladavionne and his mother and father reportedly like to dress alike. Pictures of the trio dressed in red, black, and white clothing, smiling together, have accompanied stories about how hard he is fighting to survive.
The second child to be shot in recent days is Trinity Ottoson-Smith.
The nine-year-old girl was jumping on a backyard trampoline at her best friend’s birthday party on May 15 when someone drove through the alley behind the house and shot into the yard, striking Trinity in the head.
Her father told reporters that she was hit by gunfire while “doing something innocent kids do,” by playing outside at a friend’s party. She is currently fighting for her life at the same hospital where Garrett is receiving care. In fact, their rooms are right next to each other.
This information was shared at a prayer vigil held outside of the hospital on May 17, on behalf of both children. Press coverage of the event includes an image of the children’s fathers, Ladavionne Garrett Sr. and Raishawn Smith, comforting each other amid a crowd of supporters.
Two things happened shortly after the prayer vigil took place.
First, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who is running for re-election this year, held a press conference to announce a new public safety initiative. He was joined at the podium by Medaria Arradondo, the city’s police chief.
The two men stood in the bright sunlight at the corner of Broadway and Penn Avenues in North Minneapolis, a historically underserved section of the city that has been a source of pride for the city’s Black community. It’s also the neighborhood where all three children were recently shot.
The press conference was held “after another weekend of shocking violence” in Minneapolis, as Star Tribune reporter Rochelle Olson put it. This violence included incidents of gunfire, drag racing, and street fighting that led to attacks on the Minneapolis police officers who attempted to intervene.
While many cities are experiencing an uptick in crime, including a pandemic-fueled surge in deadly drag races, emotions are especially raw in Minneapolis as the city nears the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.
It feels as though there has barely been time to pause and reflect on all that has occurred since Floyd’s painful death beneath the knee of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Even though Chauvin was found guilty of murder just weeks ago, that news was quickly subsumed by an ongoing sense of injustice and outrage. This was evident as community activists and religious leaders took to the microphone alongside Frey and Arradondo.
“This is our city, and it is time to take it back,” Bishop Paul Howell of nearby Shiloh Temple told the crowd, his voice rising with urgency and emotion.
Both Arradondo and Frey appear to be pushing for a stronger law enforcement presence on the street, something Arradondo was advocating for even before the unrest that shook the city in the wake of Floyd’s murder.
Arradondo blamed judges for “releasing violent individuals back into our community,” making it harder for police to gain control of the situation, while Frey’s new plan reportedly calls for more federal help and, at the risk of veering into performative governance, another gun violence task force. (He convened one in 2020, too.)
A few hours later, however, the third child to be shot in recent days was struck while riding in a car just blocks from where Frey’s press conference had taken place.
Aniya Allen, who is just six years old, was rushed to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. Her grandfather is Kay G. Wilson, a longtime North Minneapolis activist who works with grassroots organizations such as A Mother’s Love.
Aniya died at the downtown Minneapolis hospital on May 19.
In an unfortunate twist of fate, Wilson posted a video to Facebook a few hours before his own granddaughter was shot, in which he expresses dismay over the “innocent babies” being indiscriminately shot in Minneapolis.
“We are angry, we are upset, we are sick and tired of these senseless shootings,” he says into the camera, directly addressing the perpetrators who he surmises might be watching the video.
Wilson urges the community to help end the violence, noting that politicians and the police can’t do it alone. He ends with an emphatic “prayer for protection,” saying he hopes no one else’s children—including his own—become victims.
Seven hours later, he was back on Facebook, sharing the news that his granddaughter had been struck by gunfire.