Minneapolis authorities offered scant details of the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting of one man by another at a downtown parking ramp that led to Wednesday’s looting and vandalism, fueled by a false rumor that police had shot the suspected gunman.
Surveillance footage confirmed that the suspect, Eddie Frank Sole Jr., 38, fatally shot himself.
Police say that Sole, Eddie George Gordon, 61, and a woman who hasn’t been named were at Ramp A, at 11 N. 9th Street, around 2 p.m. Wednesday when the two men started arguing over an unspecified issue and Sole pulled a gun and shot Gordon in the head.
Officials said they were still trying to learn what prompted the confrontation between Sole and Gordon. Much of the incident was captured on surveillance cameras that dot the inside of the ramp, officials said. Responding officers detained the woman and brought her in for questioning, but Sole fled the scene. Police found him walking down Nicollet Mall a few hours later, and he turned the gun he was carrying on himself as officers closed in.
Also unclear to police was why Sole had shot himself and whether he had used the same gun that killed Gordon.
MPD spokesperson John Elder said it remains an “open and active” investigation. He said that four homicide detectives were assigned to the case “because there are unanswered questions to that and we owe it to the community and the decedent to really be able to provide the answers.”
Detectives were also trying to determine whether Sole and Gordon had ever crossed paths before that day. Both had connections to the downtown shelter next to where Gordon was killed. Sole called the Salvation Army Hope Harbor residence home for the past 2½ years and was described by charity spokesman Dan Furry as “a dependable and likable resident.” Gordon had stayed at Salvation Army’s Harbor Light Center on occasion over the years, mostly just for a night and as recently as in 2017, Furry said.
The night of Sole’s suicide, rumors immediately circulated on social media and at the scene that he was killed by police. Within a few hours, angry crowds had gathered in the area to confront police, with some people smashing the windows and looting businesses and restaurants — recalling in part the damage done in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody three months ago.
At least 132 people were arrested, but calm was restored Thursday after an 8 p.m. curfew enforced by 400 Minnesota National Guard soldiers and 1,000 members law enforcement from several jurisdictions. In Minneapolis, 30 arrests were reported within the first hour of curfew.
Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report.
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