Minneapolis Mass Shooter Was Being Evicted Over Gun Threats, Court Records Show

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Court records show the man who opened deadly fire at a downtown Minneapolis apartment building Wednesday was in the middle of a monthslong eviction dispute over a series of escalating incidents involving a firearm.

Carlton Neal Johnson II, 35, died at the scene along with two civilians, one who died at the scene and one who died at Hennepin County Medical Center.

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Six other people were shot and survived: three Minneapolis police officers and three civilians, all treated at HCMC.

Of the injured officers, one was shot in the leg, another was shot twice in the abdomen, and a third underwent surgery; all three are expected to make a full recovery, according to police.

Separately, four more officers were treated after exposure to an unknown airborne substance at the scene, and two more officers were hurt when their squad car crashed while responding, according to the city.

Police responded shortly after 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to reports of shots fired at the Shoreline Plaza building near Nicollet Mall and East Grant Street, according to the city.

Officers were on scene in under two minutes, arriving to find multiple victims in the lobby and more gunfire audible inside.

They followed the sound of gunshots to an upper floor, where they encountered a haze that significantly limited their visibility, before exchanging gunfire with the shooter.

The scene was declared secure by about 7:30 p.m., according to the city.

Mayor Jacob Frey said at a news conference that officers' response kept the death toll from being far higher.

"As officers quickly moved from unit to unit to assist anyone who needed help, I can't emphasize enough how dangerous this situation was and how heroic our officers were in response," Frey said.

"They rescued victims, brought people to safety, helped get approximately four people to the hospital, all while getting shot at themselves. We're all standing with the victims and families impacted by this senseless act."

Interim Police Chief Bill Peterson said at the news conference that officers were familiar with who this individual was but did not give a motive.

According to an eviction complaint filed June 29 in Hennepin County District Court, the owner of Shoreline Plaza, formerly known as Loring Towers, first sent Johnson a 10-day lease termination notice on June 16.

That notice cited six alleged lease breaches dating back to Jan. 16, including an assault on a resident on March 23 and a string of firearm-related incidents in June, among them displaying a gun to management staff and telling other residents he had a new gun and would kill someone.

Johnson contacted the landlord's attorney the same day and asked for another chance to comply with his lease.

The landlord agreed, issuing a last-chance directive requiring Johnson to keep any firearm concealed and follow all conceal-and-carry laws going forward.

According to the complaint, Johnson breached that agreement twice more:

On June 19, he made concerning verbal statements about using a firearm to a security officer and lifted his shirt to display the gun.

On June 25, he walked around the building with the firearm visibly displayed, threatened one resident with it, and brandished it at another in a common area.

When police were called, Johnson confronted staff and tried to find out who had reported him.

The landlord filed the eviction complaint four days later, on June 29. Johnson, initially self-represented, later retained an attorney and filed a response Aug. 3.

The case had been continued from an Aug. 14 hearing to a trial date of Sept. 11 at the time of the shooting, according to Hennepin County court records.

Johnson's unit was part of Section 8 project-based housing assistance, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, administered by the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, according to the complaint.