Police have arrested a woman in connection to an alleged attack on a homeless shelter in Minneapolis, amid criticism from the shelter operator over the initial police response and an apparent misleading public statement issued by the department about the incident.
In a release Thursday evening, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said a 33-year-old woman has been arrested “for her involvement in threatening residents of a shelter and causing damage to the building and a vehicle” following a Sept. 5 attack on St. Anne’s Place, a shelter for homeless women and their children at 2634 Russell Ave. N.
It follows what police describe as a “verbal argument” between residents of the shelter and a number of people who live on the same block, which “escalated to physical violence” in an incident that reportedly lasted around four hours, and continued after police left the scene.
There have been reports that neighbors who live across the street chased shelter residents before hitting the doors of the shelter with a bat, shattering glass, and that a vehicle belonging to another shelter resident was also damaged.