🚨NO WHITE SUPREMACISTS INVOLVED🚨
🚨NO ISLAMIC JIHADISTS INVOLVED🚨
KSTP 5 Eyewitness News published May 2, 2025: Mass shooting suspect released from probation early in 2020 case. The 34-year-old had multiple felony convictions over the course of more than a decade.
LiveNOW from FOX published May 2, 2025: Minneapolis mass shooter linked to mob.
Court documents revealed the alleged gunman in the Minneapolis mass shooting was linked to the Native Mob. He is accused of sitting in the car with all five victims and shooting them in the head. An arrest warrant indicated 34-year-old James Duane Ortely is now facing three counts of second-degree murder as well as two counts of attempted second degree murder.
FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul published May 1, 2025: 1 twin killed, another fighting for her life in Minneapolis mass shooting. Two women who were twins were shot in the mass shooting in Minneapolis Tuesday night. One of the twins lost her life while the other is fighting for her life in the hospital.
Fox9 News, Minneapolis, MN local
written by Katie Wermus
Friday May 2, 2025
MINNEAPOLIS - Court records indicate the alleged gunman in the Minneapolis mass shooting was a member of the Native Mob and fired while sitting in the car with the victims, shooting all five in the head.
An arrest warrant unsealed on Friday indicates 34-year-old James Duane Ortley is facing three counts of second-degree murder, two counts of attempted second-degree murder, and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office said an additional second-degree murder charge will be added since a fourth victim died on Thursday.
Prosecutors filed a request on April 30 to seal the warrant until after it was executed, citing concerns that, "This case involves a gang-related execution shooting of five people…the presumptive sentence in this case will be extremely high, and the risks to witnesses and law enforcement, should Defendant know of this complaint, would include greatly."
The U.S. Marshals North Start Fugitive Task Force and the FBI SWAT Team executed a search warrant on Thursday around 3:40 p.m. on the1600 block of South 4th Street, and took Ortley into custody.
What we know: Just before midnight on Tuesday, police responded to a shooting along 25th Street near Bloomington Avenue. At the scene, officers found five victims – two men, two women, and a teen boy – inside a vehicle who had all been shot in the head.
One of the victims told police there was a single shooter, identified as "Little James", "Baby J" and "Little J." The woman claims "Little James" was sitting in the rear-passenger seat and shot everyone inside before leaving the scene, the document claims.
Three people were pronounced dead at the scene, including a 27-year-old man, a 20-year-old woman, and a 17-year-old boy, police previously said. A 28-year-old man was transported to the hospital for a serious brain injury, and authorities said he has since died from his injuries.
The woman sustained a "serious gunshot wound to [her] face" and was transported to the Hennepin County Medical Center for treatment. Her current condition is unknown.
Ties to the mob
Dig deeper: The arrest warrant alleges Ortley and some of his family members are associated with the Native Mob – a criminal street gang which operates in south Minneapolis and other areas of the state.
Court documents also indicate Ortley allegedly admitted that his street name was "Baby James" during an October 2023 interview with authorities for a separate homicide investigation.
What we don't know: The arrest warrant does not indicate a motive for the shooting, but one of the victim's family members told police he was a "close family friend."
First court appearance
What's next: Ortley was taken into custody on Thursday and is scheduled to make his first appearance in Hennepin County court on Monday.
He has a previous conviction of second-degree assault, which prohibits him from possessing a firearm.
What they're saying: "This was a shocking spree of violence that tore at the fabric of our community," Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. "Families have lost loved ones, and our neighbors will carry the scars of this violence, emotionally and physically, for the rest of their lives. I am grateful to the MPD investigators who worked tirelessly, in collaboration with our staff, to quickly bring this case against Mr. Ortley. We are committed to using every resource available to us to ensure that our community is protected from further violence."
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KSTP5 ABC News, Minneapolis, MN local
written by Callan Gray KSTP
Friday May 2, 2025
A criminal complaint detailing the investigation into a deadly mass shooting in Minneapolis on Tuesday accuses James Duane Ortley of entering a vehicle and shooting five people inside, with four of the victims having died.
He wasn’t supposed to have a gun. The 34-year-old had multiple felony convictions over the course of more than a decade. Most recently, he pleaded guilty to second-degree assault. Court documents from 2020 detail how, in that case, Ortley grabbed the victim “and began stabbing him in the back.”
Prosecutors agreed to a lower sentence in exchange for a guilty plea in that case, according to court documents. He was placed on supervised probation for five years in 2021, which would’ve been until 2026. The sentencing order shows that a 39-month prison sentence was stayed for five years.
“It is fairly common in Minnesota to receive a probation sentence for that type of offense,” said Rachel Moran, an associate professor at the University of St. Thomas Law School. “Essentially, what the court was saying was if you stay out of trouble for the period of probation, you won’t have to serve the prison sentence.”
Additional court documents show, however, less than a year later, he was charged with DWI in neighboring Itasca County, which was a probation violation. In August 2023, Judge Peterson still agreed to end his probation early.
“This one caught me slightly by surprise because there had been an allegation of a probation violation one year into the five-year period,” said Moran.
A District Court spokesperson referred 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS back to the court filings when we requested an interview with Judge Peterson to ask about the decision. The documents show the probation officer made the recommendation after all probation conditions were met. A letter from Ortley is also attached, requesting probation be ended early so he could resident with his family who moved to Florda.
“I think this type of situation can, of course, lead to second-guessing and criticizing of what the judge did,” said Moran. “If probation is saying there are no warning signs here, there are a lot of people for whom it’s totally appropriate to discharge early from probation.”
The criminal complaint filed for Tuesday’s deadly shooting in Minneapolis details how, in October 2023, MPD interviewed Ortley in connection to a homicide. During that interview, he’s accused of admitting his street name was “Baby James” and the complaint goes on to say, “Officers are aware that Defendant and additional members of Defendant’s family are associated with the Native Mob, a criminal street gang which operates in South Minneapolis and other areas of Minnesota.”
Hennepin County Jail Roster records show Ortley was in custody as recently as February 17, 2025, but was released without charges just two days later. According to Minneapolis police, he was held as part of the investigation into a crime spree that month, during which a suspect fired at the window of a Minneapolis home, striking the homeowner in the jaw.
Three people were charged for that crime: 19-year-old Quayzhon Demetrius Lewis and two 17-year-olds.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office didn’t respond to our inquiry about why Ortley wasn’t charged in that February case. Documents show, however, one of the teens charged in that case is also the 17-year-old victim that Ortley is accused of killing this week.
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