Rochester Police Investigating Rolling Gun Battle
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - Rochester Police are working to identify suspects in what appears to have been a rolling gun battle in sections of northwest Rochester yesterday evening.
Police Captain John Sherwin says the first reports associated with the case came in just before 6:40 pm from a citizen who saw a black and a blue vehicle ramming into each other near the intersection of 41st Street and West River Parkway Northwest. Less than 10 minutes later, multiple witnesses called 911 to report gunfire in the vicinity of 14th Street and Valleyhigh Drive Northwest near Colonial Lanes. Sherwin says one witness saw a blue vehicle pull over and a black male passenger get out, crouch next to the vehicle, and fire a handgun in the direction of a black vehicle. Another witness, with a different vantage report, saw an exchange of gunfire between the occupants of both vehicles.
Approximately 10 minutes after those reports, at just before 7 pm, the police department received multiple 911 calls about two vehicles chasing each other and shots being fired from both vehicles in the 3200 block of Oxford Lane Northwest, which is in the neighborhood located just north of the shopping center anchored by Home Depot and Target North. Captain Sherwin says multiple shell casings from two different guns were recovered at the scene.
While officers were processing that crime scene, another officer on patrol found a car matching the description of the blue vehicle involved in the shooting at nearby Lincolnshire Park. Witnesses at the park reported seeing four black males exit the light blue Audi and leave the park on foot. Police did detain one person as a possible suspect but did not have enough evidence to make an arrest. Captain Sherwin says a gun was recovered from the car, which had some damage that could have resulted from the chase and gunfire.