6 people shot in two Minneapolis shootings

At least six people have been shot in two separate shootings in the US state of Minnesota, police say.

The shootings occurred in Minneapolis early Monday. One of the injured was in critical condition after being shot in the chest.

Police officers were dispatched to the 4th Street between Hennepin Avenue and Nicollet on reports of a shooting around 1:15 am local time, Minneapolis Police spokesman Corey Schmidt.

Upon arrival at the scene, they found two men who had both sustained gunshot wounds to the leg but it was clear if any of the injuries were lethal.

The second shooting occurred 15 minutes later about a block away, Schmidt added.  Police found four victims—three men and one juvenile—at the scene.

Police were trying to find possible links between the two incidents as they happened within a block of each other.

Although no arrests were made in relation to the first shooting, police said they had taken a man into custody in connection with the second shooting.

Schmidt noted that all of the six victims were “uncooperative” with the investigation.

The shootings came only three days after a deadly case of domestic shooting in Minneapolis, where three people were shot dead and one was critically injured.

Murders and other violent crimes in US cities rose by 10 percent in 2015 compared to a year earlier, annual the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in its annual report last week, fueling concerns that the nation’s more-than two-decade trend of falling crime rates may be ending.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), firearms are the cause of death for more than 33,000 people in the US every year, a number that includes accidental discharge, murder, and suicides.

The US Constitution’s Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms with gun rights groups, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), asserting that restrictions on gun purchases would not improve public safety.