CONTACT: Ian D. Bethel 612 801 0034

September 3, 2026                                                                                                     

Responding to Senseless Violence in Minneapolis

UCMT Honors MPD Officers and Stands with Community Members

“The Unity Community Mediation Team (UCMT) honors the officers who responded to the scene of the deadly shooting yesterday, in the Loring Park Neighborhood of Minneapolis, to save lives by putting themselves in harm’s way.   We pray for those who were injured and for their families and loved ones.  We condemn the senseless shooting by a young man who after causing so much death and destruction, died in the violent chaos he had authored,” said Ian Bethel, Chair of UCMT, and Co-Chair, with MPD Interim Chief Bill Peterson, of the Police Community Relations Council (PCRC).

The UCMT is proud to be participating in a new Neighbor to Neighbor community based mediation program led by the NAACP Minneapolis with the support of the Minneapolis Police Department.   This program, while still a pilot project, has found success in mediating between neighbors who have a dispute that is generating 911 calls but that doesn’t rise to the level of criminal activity.   “It is our hope,” said UCMT Chair Bethel, “that this Neighbor to Neighbor program can grow as a community based resource of mediators to resolve disputes before they escalate to the point where people are injured.”   If mediation is more available, it is our hope that at least some other cases of senseless violence can be averted.