Two people were shot and killed in north Minneapolis on Monday afternoon, one of them a 14-year-old boy, and the person suspected of shooting them was killed in a shootout with Brooklyn Center police about 30 minutes later.
The events began to unfold just after 3:30 p.m., when responders were dispatched to a report of a double shooting on the 4200 block of Irving Avenue North, in Minneapolis, according to available emergency dispatch audio. While en route, responders were informed by the dispatcher that both victims were possibly children.
Once on site, responders aired that one victim was deceased, and CPR was being performed on the other.
Dispatches were still occurring for response to that incident, when another emergency dispatch was aired regarding a shooting in Brooklyn Center.
Just after 4 p.m., medical responders were dispatched on a report of a shooting at the IHOP restaurant on the 5600 block of Xerxes Avenue North, in the Brookdale area.
Information nearly immediately began to be posted online suggesting the Brooklyn Center incident was an officer-involved shooting. Activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, who was recently charged along with Don Lemon and others in the St. Paul anti-ICE church storming, was livestreaming from the Brooklyn Center location, where she said she just happened to be visiting another business.
Armstrong said she heard a “hail of gunfire” and said police were shooting at somebody. Armstrong’s livestream went on for several minutes, during which she became confrontational with police who asked her to step back away from the crime scene. She responded to officers several times saying, “I’m an attorney.” Armstrong went on to chastise officers for their “tone” and their “energy” toward her. Armstrong also stated that “this did not have to happen like this,” and “this was an uncontrolled crime scene … they could have killed multiple people.” Armstrong went on to suggest that the community was already dealing with enough “terror and trauma from local police departments in this community.”
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Check out this self-important spewer of false information Nekima Levy Armstrong from this afternoon at the site of the OIS shooting of a double murder suspect. She's getting in the faces of cops like she has some business being there. She doesn't, she's just trying to foment… pic.twitter.com/59lvo1R4Kb— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) February 24, 2026
Meanwhile, Crime Watch Minneapolis had obtained information from a source that the person shot was potentially the suspect from the double shooting in north Minneapolis, a fact that was later confirmed in a statement by the Brooklyn Center Police Department:
“On February 23, 2026, at approximately 3:55 PM Brooklyn Center police officers were dispatched to the business area in the vicinity of the 5500–5600 blocks of Brooklyn Boulevard in Brooklyn Center to investigate a report of a male waving a gun around outside retail establishments. Brooklyn Center police officers arrived in the area and were confronted by the subject who was armed with a handgun. Gunfire was exchanged between the subject and officers and the subject was struck by the gunfire. No officers were struck by gunfire. Officers immediately rendered first aid and the subject was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced deceased. A handgun was located at the scene.
Preliminary information indicates this incident is related to a double homicide in Minneapolis earlier in the day.
The Brooklyn Center Police Department was assisted by multiple area police agencies during this incident.
Brooklyn Center police officers have been placed on critical incident leave.
The Brooklyn Center Police Department requested the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) investigate this use of force incident.
Officers were wearing Body Worn Cameras during this incident.
There’s no danger to the public related to this incident any longer. This incident remains under investigation, and additional information will be released by the BCA as it becomes available.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara held a media briefing later in the afternoon, during which he confirmed that a 14-year-old boy and a 23-year-old man had been shot and killed at the north Minneapolis residence.
O’Hara described that the deceased parties were believed to be cousins of the shooter, who he said had just been released from jail a short time prior to the shooting. O’Hara said the shooter possibly believed the family members were somehow responsible for his arrest a week earlier but indicated there were no articulable facts to confirm that.
O’Hara said that the grandmother had been inside the house at the time of the shooting along with four other children ages 7, 8, 9, and 10; none of them were physically injured in the incident.
O’Hara also said that a man armed with a handgun approached the crime scene while officers were on site. He did not expand on exactly what transpired but said the man was arrested and would be booked on assault and obstruction charges.
The chief reiterated the belief that the person involved in the Brooklyn Center shooting was the suspect in the double homicide.
O’Hara did not name the suspect during the briefing, but a source confirmed to Crime Watch that 23-year-old Eddie Darren Duncan was the shooter. Friends and family members of Duncan’s have since acknowledged his identity in social media posts.
Duncan had been arrested on Feb. 15 by Minneapolis police in connection to a felony warrant for fleeing Robbinsdale police last year and possession of a machine gun (Glock with an auto sear or “switch”).
Court records in the case show that following Duncan’s arrest, a Rule 20 mental competency evaluation was filed by presiding Judge Julia Dayton Klein on Friday, as well as an order for appointing a forensic navigator, which is supposed to assist in supervising the defendant and providing services for mental illness or cognitive impairments. Available court records are not clear on whether a navigator had been assigned before Judge Dayton Klein ordered Duncan’s release, also on Friday. Records indicate a bail amount was required of $70,000 unconditional or $35,000 conditional release, but a bail document had not yet been posted online at the time of this report.
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It's sounding like the shooter of the children was Eddie Darren Duncan, also the person who was shot by officers in Brooklyn Center.Still developing. pic.twitter.com/91lDYGqSQ2
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) February 24, 2026
Chief O’Hara said that the shooting suspect had been “well known” to police. A check of court records shows that Duncan was charged last January with third-degree drug sales and fifth-degree drug possession after being arrested with bindles of crack cocaine and marijuana at 19th and Nicollet Avenue, a known Minneapolis trouble spot. Duncan was also in possession of a loaded firearm with an extended magazine and an extra extended magazine in his pocket. However, he was not charged with any firearm-related crime while engaged in a drug crime or drug trafficking, which would carry stiffer penalties.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office offered Duncan a plea deal in that case, agreeing to dismiss the more serious third-degree drug charge and grant a stay of adjudication on the fifth-degree charge, keeping the crime off his public record. Instead, Duncan was required to perform 48 hours of community service and was placed on probation for three years, when his case was resolved in November.
A Facebook page which appears to have belonged to Duncan contains numerous posts in the days and hours prior to his arrest on Feb. 15 that indicate he could have been having a mental crisis. Duncan claimed in several posts that he was “god,” and stated in others that he hadn’t slept in days. He also made numerous repetitive posts for hours on end, some indicating a distrust in his family and repeatedly reposting his warrant information. There were also two posts made immediately preceding and immediately after Monday’s shooting.
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Facebook posts by Eddie Duncan on Monday. The top post was made just minutes after the double homicide, the lower post was timestamped at 2:45 p.m., less than an hour before the double murder in north Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/qL1jj9nnXn— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) February 24, 2026
A brief statement by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said the agency would be investigating the Brooklyn Center use-of-force incident. The BCA said more information will be made available after the preliminary investigation is complete.
Alpha News will continue to follow developments in these incidents.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
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.
