On the morning of July 7, 2019, Joe Willie Ross Jr., 24, of Shakopee, was fatally shot near the intersection of Washington and First avenues in downtown Minneapolis. Officers answered reports just before 2 a.m.; a person at the scene flagged down a police sergeant who found Ross wounded in the roadway. The sergeant began CPR until emergency crews transported Ross to Hennepin Healthcare, where he was pronounced dead at about 2:40 a.m. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be a gunshot wound to the chest and ruled the manner of death homicide.

Investigators have said the shooting may have arisen from a traffic dispute that escalated. Several witnesses were interviewed at the scene, but no suspects or public descriptions have been released and no arrests have been announced. The killing was one of several violent incidents in downtown Minneapolis that weekend and raised public concern about gun violence.

If anyone was in the Washington and First avenues area that night or has information about the traffic dispute, please come forward.