Man fatally shot inside Spring Street Tavern in northeast Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS – A deadly shooting inside a popular neighborhood bar in northeast Minneapolis has left many people shaken, as they try to process the events of Saturday night.
It happened inside Spring Street Tavern at about 11:30 p.m.
"When something like this happens, it's a really scary experience, even if it's an isolated thing," said neighbor Sarah Scott.
A sign on the door, next to one indicating guns are banned on the premise, announced Spring Street Tavern's closure Sunday. Police said the violence began when two men, who knew each other, started fighting. That's when police say one of the men pulled out a gun and shot the other. Witnesses helped detain the suspected shooter until authorities arrived.
On Monday, authorities identified the deceased as 37-year-old Kenneth Rodriguez.
"I hope we're able to move past it, but also recognize that there's bigger issues at hand where these kinds of conflicts happen and it results in this type of violence," Scott said. "There's something deeper and more systemic going on."
Scott lives a few blocks away and said the bar is a neighborhood favorite.
"The bartenders are fantastic people, too, and so they kind of cultivated a good sense of community there," Scott said.
Peggy Dunnette, who has owned Spring Street for the past 17 years, told WCCO she was not familiar with the two men. The establishment has many regular customers and longtime bartenders, she said.
"We just have tried so hard to build a place of tolerance and love, as hoaky as that sounds," Dunnette said. "I wouldn't own that place if it weren't."
While no staff or customers were physically hurt, she said many are traumatized.
"Some of the people that love us the most were there, and those people I know today are really having a hard time with this, and I'm really sorry to them for what they had to go through," she said.
She hopes people will come back to the place many call their "family."
"It's truly not who we are," Dunnette said.
The suspected shooter was arrested and taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries he sustained during the fight.
Spring Street Tavern will reopen Monday. Dunnette says she hopes it can be a space for people to come together to support each other.
This marks the 75th homicide of the year in Minneapolis.
