Mass shooting at Minneapolis encampment involved Illinois drug dealers and fight over territory, new charges say
Published in News & Features
MINNEAPOLIS — Investigators in Hennepin County allege that a shootout at a Minneapolis homeless encampment earlier this month stemmed from a dispute over who got to sell drugs inside the “makeshift urban campsite,” hours after another mass shooting hindered efforts to deal in another spot.
Trivon Leonard Jr., of Richton Park, Ill., is charged with first-degree riot and illegal possession of a firearm in connection with the shooting near Lake Street and 28th Avenue North that killed 30-year-old Jacinda Oakgrove and injured six more.
Leonard, who has multiple felony convictions in Illinois where he is currently on parole, had been released from Hennepin County jail about four hours before the shooting. Two days prior, he was arrested for driving drunk at 92 mph through Minneapolis.
It was the second mass shooting within 12 hours that day in Minneapolis.
The burst of violence led the city to close the encampment, which had been housed on the private parking lot of ubiquitous Minneapolis property owner Hamoudi Sabri.
One of the victims told investigators he had gone to the encampment to buy drugs and was going from tent to tent looking for a dealer.
When he arrived he heard a man and a woman arguing over who was allowed to sell drugs in the area. A new group of drug dealers had arrived in the area shortly before and had allegedly pulled out weapons as the argument escalated underneath a canopy structure in the encampment. Gunfire erupted shortly after.
Witnesses said the men had arrived in a white SUV and police canvassed the area and found surveillance footage that captured the entire scene. People with both drug crews were shot in the melee, as were innocent bystanders.
One victim who spoke with police was shot in the neck and armpit. Another witness who was shot was friends with Oakgrove, who died after being shot in the head. The witness said Oakgrove had nothing to do with the dispute.
Surveillance footage showed one man running from the scene with a gun in his hand, hopping a fence and getting into a Hyundai. Investigators later identified the man as Leonard.
Surveillance footage of Leonard’s release from jail showed that he was wearing the same clothes as the man seen running from the shooting.
When he was arrested, Leonard had two baggies of suspected fentanyl and methamphetamine, $1,000 cash and a fake Illinois identification card.
After initially denying any involvement, he told police he was with a group of five men who had come to Minneapolis recently from Illinois to sell drugs. Leonard told investigators that his drug crew had been selling near the Midtown Greenway, but that Minneapolis had recently closed that area, so they looked for somewhere to move their operation. The first mass shooting that day took place near the Midtown Greenway and injured five people. Mayor Jacob Frey ordered the city to quickly fence off the area, which had been serving as an open air drug market for some time.
The Illinois men wanted to deal in the encampment but knew another group was already selling in the area.
He said the shooting was started by the other group, but once a shot went off “everyone else” started shooting. After he fled the scene, he told police he sold his gun to someone on Lake Street for $200.
When shown a photo of Oakgrove, Leonard didn’t disagree that the shootout led to her death. But he was “evasive and showed zero remorse” over the death.
Leonard recently moved to Minneapolis and since June 25 has been arrested for first-degree drug possession, driving without a license and DWI. He remains on parole in Illinois, where he has felony convictions for robbery, drug possession, property damage, cruelty to animals and being a felon in possession of a firearm
He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail and due in court Friday for a first appearance. The investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
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