A Minneapolis man with a long paper trail of gun threats and a pending eviction opened fire outside his own apartment building, killed two neighbors, wounded several police officers, and died in a shootout with the officers who answered the call.
Quick Take
- Two residents of Shoreline Plaza Apartments, Muse Afrah, 61, and Dale Henry Spry, 63, were killed in the September 2 attack.
- The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) identified the suspected shooter as 35-year-old Carlton Neal Johnson, who died exchanging gunfire with police.
- At least three officers were hurt while responding, and court records show Johnson had threatened neighbors with a gun months earlier.
- A restraining order request and a police investigation into Johnson’s weapon display in June never led to criminal charges.
Gunfire Began Outside, Then Moved Into the Building
The violence started outside Shoreline Plaza Apartments in downtown Minneapolis during what officials describe as a custody exchange. From there, the gunman moved into the building and kept firing, according to reporting tied to Bureau of Criminal Apprehension updates.
Police arrived and exchanged gunfire with the suspect, who died at the scene. Two residents lost their lives, and multiple officers suffered injuries during the response.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension named the two residents killed as Muse Afrah, 61, and Dale Henry Spry, 63. Both lived in the building where the shooting unfolded.
Investigators said the suspected shooter, Carlton Neal Johnson, 35, died in a gun battle with responding officers. At least three officers were hurt in the exchange, based on reporting following the incident.
A Documented History of Threats Before the Shooting
Court records reviewed by local reporters paint a troubling picture of Johnson’s recent past. He was facing eviction over threatening statements made to people in the building.
Records show he displayed a firearm and told others he had bought a new gun and “would kill someone.” Those warnings sat in the file well before the shooting happened.
A fellow resident had already gone to court seeking a restraining order against Johnson months earlier. That resident alleged Johnson assaulted him and threatened him with a handgun.
In his own words, filed with the court, he wrote that he was “afraid to enter and exit” his own apartment out of fear for his safety.
Minneapolis shooting suspect Carlton Johnson II allegedly threatened to gun down ex-girlfriend, 'kill someone' as he faced eviction https://t.co/J86b6CrlgQ pic.twitter.com/CVK1TVPE0N
— New York Post (@nypost) September 3, 2026
Police Investigated Him Once — But No Charges Followed
Minneapolis police had already looked into Johnson once before. A June 25 encounter led officers to investigate him for displaying a weapon.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty later said her office reviewed the case and found “insufficient evidence to prove a charge beyond a reasonable doubt.” That decision meant Johnson kept his freedom, and reportedly his gun, in the months leading up to the shooting.
Separate reporting adds more layers to Johnson’s background, including a 2022 social media post referencing gun violence in Minneapolis, past restraining orders, and a 2018 domestic assault case. None of that history, taken alone, predicted this specific attack.
Together, it describes a pattern that repeatedly touched police, courts, and neighbors without ending in serious consequences.
Warning Signs Are Common — and Commonly Missed
What happened at Shoreline Plaza fits a pattern researchers have documented again and again. Studies of mass shooters have found that the vast majority — some estimates put it near 86 percent — communicate violent intentions before they act, often called “leakage.”
The catch is that those warning signs rarely land in one place. They get scattered across neighbors, courts, landlords, and police reports, making the full picture hard to see until after the violence happens.
That scattering appears to be exactly what happened here. A landlord pursuing eviction, a neighbor filing for a restraining order, and police declining to charge Johnson after a weapons complaint were each isolated data points.
What Remains Unsettled
Investigators have not released a final determination on Johnson’s exact motive, and some early injury counts differed slightly across news outlets in the shooting’s immediate aftermath.
Those are the kinds of details that typically firm up once the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension completes its investigation and the medical examiner finalizes findings. The core facts of who died, who is accused, and how the attack unfolded are well established.
Army vet Dale Henry Spry was one of the two men tragically killed in the Minneapolis apartment mass shooting Wednesday. He was 63. Family set up a fund for burial.
I was linked his GoFundMe https://t.co/F8zbktnbhY
— zach bitango (@ZachBitango) September 5, 2026
For now, the deaths of Muse Afrah and Dale Henry Spry, and the injuries suffered by officers who confronted Johnson, stand as the immediate cost of a threat pattern that ran through Minneapolis courts and police files for months before it turned deadly.
Sources:
youtube.com, cbsnews.com, nbcnews.com, kstp.com, fox9.com
