Police arrest two suspects in shooting of Minnesota Black Lives Matter protesters

Minneapolis police said on Tuesday they have arrested a 23-year-old white man and a 32-year-old Hispanic man in relation to the shooting of five people near a city police station where demonstrators have gathered for more than a week to protest the killing of an unarmed black man by officers.

The police said the younger suspect was arrested around 11:20 a.m. local time (1720 GMT) in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, while the older man was arrested in his vehicle about 45 minutes later in south Minneapolis.

"We are sparing no efforts to bring any and all those responsible to justice," Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges said after the first arrest. In an earlier video statement, she said she abhorred the attack on the demonstrators.

The police, however, have not yet confirmed a connection between the shooting and the protest. The police also said they will release the suspects' names after charges are filed while the search for any additional suspects continues.

Police earlier said they were looking for three white male suspects in the shooting late on Monday. It occurred a block from the police station where protests have been held since the fatal Nov. 15 shooting of Jamar Clark, 24, Minneapolis police said in a statement.

None of the injuries in the Monday shooting were life-threatening and the wounded were taken to local hospitals.

The Black Lives Matter Minneapolis group protesting Clark's killing said on its Facebook page that five unarmed protesters were shot by what it described as white supremacists who had been asked to leave the area and were followed out by protesters before they opened fire.

(Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Ben Klayman in Detroit; editing by Bill Rigby and G Crosse)