(Crime Watch MN) — Minneapolis firefighters were on site of a structure fire early Saturday morning at a vacant building at 2312 Lyndale Avenue South.
The Minneapolis Fire Department was live tweeting during the incident and tweeted at one point that “several squatters were inside the building.”
MFD said that one squatter had jumped from the second floor and was being evaluated by medics.
A second alarm was eventually called on the fire. Picture above was posted by a Crime Watch follower on Facebook. Picture below was submitted to Crime Watch.
Crime Watch also obtained several other exclusive photos from inside the structure that were taken about six weeks ago, prior to the fire, along with commentary from the person who took the photos. Verbiage in “quotes” below the photos is from the person who submitted the photos.
The person who provided the photos told Crime Watch that they’ve been raising concern with the city over the condition of the building and its inhabitants for months.
The person who provided the photos said there is no running water in the structure; thus, no working bathrooms. “I can’t rid myself of the smell,” they told Crime Watch.
The person said the condition of the building was “shocking,” as the photos below show.
The person also told us they wouldn’t have been able to count the discarded needles even if they were “Rain Man.”
According to Minneapolis property records, the structure is owned by C David George, and this is the second recent fire at one of his vacant properties. In September, a vacant structure owned by George in the Loring Park neighborhood was damaged by fire.
Crime Watch also received information that MFD may still be investigating whether there may have been people inside the structure who were not able to escape during the fire. The ATF and MPD were stationed outside the vacant building most of the day Monday.
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The ATF and MPD mobile command have been out all day at the site of Saturday's structure fire of a vacant building at 2312 Lyndale Ave S. The building was occupied by squatters when MFD arrived early Saturday; one jumped out a second story window.— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) December 5, 2022
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
