Duluth weathers wave of gun violence

By Tom Olsen tolsen@duluthnews.com

Duluth officials grappled with another year of escalating gun violence in 2020.

Police had reported at least 37 shootings or gunfire incidents as of early December — easily surpassing 2019’s total of 24 prior to Labor Day — and the city was on pace to record as many incidents in 2020 as in the past two years combined.

“Any time we see gunshots ring out in our neighborhoods, that is cause for concern,” Police Chief Mike Tusken said in September. “Without question, it shakes us to our core.”

Remarkably, despite the surge, there had not been any fatalities reported heading into the final month of the year. The city had one gun homicide in 2019.

Data obtained by the News Tribune in September revealed just how quickly gun violence has accelerated in the community.

In 2014, the city saw 14 shootings or confirmed shots-fired incidents in which officers were able to recover evidence at the scene. That remained steady in 2015 before dropping to just 11 in 2016 — a year that included one gun homicide.

But the city has experienced escalating numbers since 2017, with the exception of a small dip in 2018 — though that year included two homicides.

Police have suggested that there is frequently a lack of cooperation among victims or potential witnesses to the incidents, at least some of which appear to be in retaliation for prior acts of violence. Perhaps owing to the drive-by nature of many of the crimes, the rates of both injuries and arrests appeared to be down in 2020.

Tusken cited widespread availability of firearms as a cause.

“At any given time, there are thousands of

(guns) that have been stolen and are in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, who are convicted felons, who have been violent felons, and who are remorseless in how they operate, in that they will use guns to resolve conflict,” he said.

Meanwhile, a different kind of shooting made headlines through the fall. On Nov. 30, Duluth Police Officer Tyler Leibfried was charged with two felonies for shooting an unarmed man through the door of a downtown apartment Sept. 12 — believed to be the first prosecution of its kind in the department’s 150-year history. u