Three weekend shootings leave lasting impact on the community

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – Three shootings over the weekend in Fargo have people more aware when they’re downtown.

A bouncer says police did a good job with containment and a business owner is taking security measures more seriously for the future.

“When you hear stuff, like it’s really scary and shocking so gotta be safe,” Noah Glad of Fargo said.

He says people will be more likely to have their heads on a swivel.

“I think it should, it does yea. It should with everyone else too. They should be more alert,” Glad said.

A bouncer working at The Old Broadway Friday and Saturday nights says he was focused on keeping everyone there safe and the crowd was a mix of people in panic and others who seemed like they had seen this before. He described ambulances rushing to the scene and a strong police presence, but assured me the police kept the overall scene calm and cleared everything pretty quickly.

Police say the first shooting happened around 12:15 a.m. Saturday on 35th Avenue & 33rd Street South. A 39-year-old man was shot in the arm. Police are still looking to identify the suspect.

There was another shooting a couple of hours later on North Broadway. A man got shot in the buttocks and police say suspect is still on the run.

A third shooting was reported at 2:30 a.m. Sunday. The front glass window at Holiday on University Drive was shot out. Dispatch told officers on scene that a shooting victim was brought to the emergency room with non-life-threatening injuries.

An employee at the gas station says it can be scary working shifts like that alone in the early morning hours.

Jim Poolman, a managing partner of the Hotel Donaldson, says after these recent shootings, they’re going to have to look at ramping up their security system.

“The nice thing is we have valet parking right at the hotel so guests can come in and out very quickly, and so we have staff ushering people in. But as we get close to opening, we’re going to have to do a full security review to make sure, in terms of surveillance, in terms of staffing, make sure we have adequate training for our staff,” Poolman said.

A majority of the people we spoke with say they feel safe especially during the day and this won’t keep them from going out.