Contributing writer Clint Combs reports on the launch of Minneapolis’ Firearm Assault Shoot Team, a new dedicated non-fatal shooting investigative unit funded at $1.7 million in the 2026 city budget, as Police Chief Brian O’Hara describes the shift in approach, Council Member Robin Wonsley raises concerns about the police contract and advocates call unequal clearance rates a racial justice issue.
Before the Minneapolis Police Department created a dedicated non-fatal shooting investigative unit, a surviving victim’s case might land on the desk of a property crimes detective, a traffic investigator, or whoever happened to be on duty that night.
“The homicide unit was being assigned not just homicides but also non-fatal shootings, however, they would only respond to the scene when a homicide happened,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. “So what that meant was we rotate duty investigators during non-business hours, at night and on weekends, so tonight it might be a property crimes investigator, on Saturday it might be a traffic investigator.”
That approach left non-fatal shootings among the most under-investigated categories of violent crime in the city. Now, Minneapolis is changing course…