Homicides are down and fewer people have been wounded by gunfire in Minneapolis so far in 2026, leading some residents to notice their neighborhoods quieting down. But increased thefts and the frequent car window-breaking sprees are complicating the city’s progress compared to last year.

The city had 27% fewer homicides through September 2026, compared with the same period in 2025, while the number of gunshot victims has dropped below pre-pandemic levels in 2019. However, vehicle thefts and other thefts have increased, leaving some residents and business owners frustrated despite the reductions in violent crimes.

Gayle Smaller, who works for the Northside Residents Redevelopment Council, said it’s been “pretty quiet” in the Willard Hay and Near North neighborhoods. Some problems, such as car window break-ins, have been increasing more recently though, he said.

The North Side of Minneapolis, which historically has had some of the highest shooting rates in the city, continued to see a drop in gunfire in 2026.

Near North leads the city in shooting victims with 19. But the Fourth Precinct, which encompasses north Minneapolis, still had a reduction in shooting victims, as did every area of the city other than the Second Precinct, which includes northeast Minneapolis.

Smaller thinks one factor has been residents making a point to gather outside this year, hosting yard parties or going to parks with their children more often than in the past. The heightened presence and eyes on the street have served as effective crime deterrents, he said.

“This summer we’ve noticed a lot more people just being outside, you know,” he said. “I think that that’s helping a lot.”

Sue Tincher, a Near North resident who made national headlines over the winter as a plaintiff who sued ICE over alleged excessive force by agents, said she’s noticed the improvements with crime reductions in her area.

To help address problems as they pop up, Tincher recently started hosting block club meetings at her house where neighbors can raise concerns about any criminal activity.

“Our neighbors are very tight, and we look out for one another, and that helps with safety quite a bit, at least on this block,” Tincher said.

This year’s 41 homicides — a count that includes the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge — is down from last year’s tally of 55 through late September, according to the Star Tribune’s database.

Minneapolis’ shrinking homicide numbers match other cities across the country. A nationwide study of 36 large cities by the Council on Criminal Justice found a roughly 31% drop in homicides through the first six months of the year.

Even counting several mass shooting incidents this year — including two incidents in June and the recent shooting at Shoreline Plaza in Loring Park — the number of gunshot victims has fallen about 22% from last year.

Robberies are also down about a fifth, while carjackings are down about a third.

Minneapolis Police spokesman Sgt. Garrett Parten credited the reductions in part to the department’s more focused investigations, increased officer visibility, and sustained partnerships with other agencies and community groups.

And while the department remains understaffed, with 643 sworn officers, the city has grown the number of new officer hires in recent years, Parten said.

The department provided the Star Tribune with a list of 12 different factors it believes have contributed to the violent crime reductions. One was saturating certain areas like Dinkytown and downtown Minneapolis with additional officers during Friday and Saturday nights over the summer when they were at their busiest.

The department also launched its Firearm Assault Shoot Team (FAST), which is focused on improving investigations into non-fatal shootings and handling them with the same resources and urgency as a homicide.

The new team has in turn helped out homicide investigators, who can now devote more time to fatal cases, Parten said. The department has a 86% homicide clearance rate so far in 2026, he said.

“This coordinated structure supports more concentrated investigative work and a faster transition from identifying a suspect to making an arrest,” Parten said.

Anna Schmitz, executive director of the Whittier Alliance neighborhood association, said the reduction in homicides is an overall positive sign, even as residents in her neighborhood continue to struggle with problems associated with large public drug use sites and car window-breaking sprees.

“Ultimately, a person’s life is more important than a car, and so if there are fewer people dying, that is always going to be a success, to my mind,” Schmitz said.

At the same time, Schmitz said she wants the city and county to come up with a more specialized plan to address crime issues in Whittier and Stevens Square. Whittier has had the second-most shooting victims in the city in 2026 with 16.

While violent crime is down, theft and vandalism are up — particularly as it pertains to vehicles. All larcenies are up 6%, driven in part by a roughly 50% spike in thefts of vehicular parts. And after two years of declines in auto thefts, those are up 9% from last year.

Derrick Schmaus, a manager for Nelson’s Green Garage in the Whittier neighborhood, said his shop still gets numerous vehicles in need of a window replacement after one of the city’s many window-breaking sprees.

Catalytic converter thefts, particularly from Toyota Priuses and Mitsubishi Outlanders, have also continued to be an issue, he said.

During the vandalism sprees that have spiked in Minneapolis in recent years, teens and young adults go from car to car breaking window glass before speeding away, only sometimes stopping to take anything inside. The sprees have been widespread and frustrated residents across the city.

Schmaus said he worries of the growing frustration caused by car break-ins.

“People wake up, they drag themselves out of bed, and the first thing they see is their car just, you know, vandalized, and it’s demoralizing” he said. “You’re seeing more and more people wanting to move out of this area because of it.”

The city has had a nearly 12% increase in damage to vehicle reports so far compared to the same period in 2025, according to police data.

Nationwide, Minneapolis lagged behind many other large metros in several categories, including car theft through the first half of 2026.

Vehicle thefts in Minneapolis increased about a quarter for the first half of the year, outpacing a nationwide 20% decrease, the Council on Criminal Justice study showed. And larcenies had decreased 6% through June nationwide, while increasing about 7% in Minneapolis.

While shootings are down in Whittier, the public disruption caused by high-profile daytime shootings has been challenging to overcome for businesses, Schmaus said.

Schmaus was inside the shop when an armed standoff began in June, with a man who allegedly took a woman hostage inside an apartment next door. Police directed Schmaus and his co-workers to leave the shop and close for hours before officers successfully took the suspect into custody.

The standoff shut down a several block-wide area for most of the day and forced residents of a nearby shelter to evacuate amid sweltering temperatures. Dozens of people stood outside of the police tape and watched as police worked to safely arrest the man, some standing next to officers aiming long-range rifles at the suspect’s window.

Regardless of the crime trends, Schmaus worries the disruptive shootings, including the killing of Pretti, are discouraging people from visiting the area out of safety concerns.

“We want to see the resurgence of Eat Street, and seeing things like [the standoff], and then seeing the Alex Pretti shooting and all these things, it’s not helping the situation for these great businesses,” he said.

©2026 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.