The University of Minnesota’s Max McHugh and Nick Saulnier were shot in very early hours of Saturday morning in Minneapolis, Minnesota, SwimSwam has confirmed. They sustained non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to recover.
A bullet penetrated the inside of McHugh’s right leg just above the knee, and Saulnier in the elbow, a source said. A report from The Star Tribune from Saturday includes a description of a shooting matching the circumstances of McHugh and Saulnier’s. The Tribune reports that a shooting in Minneapolis occurred at approximately 1:17 a.m. Saturday morning, and two men in their 20s were sitting on a curb when someone started shooting, hitting them in the knee and arm. According to that report, the “police, citing witnesses, said the incident was preceded by an altercation at a nearby restaurant.” The Tribune did not name the victims in that shooting.
Update: the Tribune report was not specific as to whether or not the two victims of the shooting were involved in the alleged altercation, but the family of Max McHugh has indicated that the athletes were not involved in any altercations that night.
There were three shootings within three hours, presumed to be unrelated, in Minneapolis in the early Saturday. A man was killed in one of the instances, and no arrests have been made in regard to any of the three, according to the Tribune’s report.
UPDATE: The Minnesota Athletic Department gave SwimSwam the following statement:
“Two members of the Minnesota men’s swimming team were in downtown Minneapolis this weekend when they were struck by stray gunfire. The individuals had recently ordered a pizza and were waiting on a ride home when the incident occurred. They received treatment at a local hospital and were released. Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle and head coach Kelly Kremer have communicated with both student-athletes and they are recovering.”
McHugh, a Wisconsin native, is a member of the 2018-2019 U.S. Junior National Team and became a multi-time All-American in his freshman season, finishing third in the 100 breast (50.52) and second in the 200 ((1:49.41) at the 2019 NCAA Championships in March; he was also on the Gophers’ 10th-place 400 medley relay (3:04.70). McHugh was the 2018 Wisconsin High School Swimmer of the Year
Saulnier just completed his junior season with the Gophers, where he was a part of the team’s fifth-place 800 free relay at the Big Ten Championships. He was also 14th in the 200 free (1:35.72) and 200 back (1:44.47) individually. Saulnier was an NCAA relay qualifier as a sophomore and was named Most Improved Swimmer by his teammates as a freshman. He is from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Nick Saulnier’s dad here. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes for Nick and Max. Nick is doing well and recovering at his home in Iowa this week. We expect him to make a full recovery soon and tear up the water for his final year as a Gopher.
That’s great news, Mr. Saulnier. Best wishes for Nick’s continued recovery!
Hope the guys recover and are able to swim again.
Hope Max and Nick recover from this quickly.
General thoughts unrelated to Max and Nick. I read some of the other comments and am surprise with some of the reactions… for example, university students learned quickly which part of town is safe and which part is not/ should avoid. When looked up google maps, that area seems to have some good restaurants (open late) some night life and also lots of shopping/office building/apartment. Can’t really tell if that is a bad neighborhood that one should avoid as some of the post suggested.
University students / young adults often stay up late for many reasons (studies/projects, play video games, binge watching tv) and order and pick up food late at… Read more »
As a local resident, I can confirm that part of town is hardly what anyone would call “bad” or “dangerous.” As noted above, it’s pretty trendy with lots of upscale restaurants, etc. Can’t say I have hung out there that late, but I’m an old guy, not a college kid.
I was really nervous to see the title as I’m a huge fan of McHugh, glad it doesn’t appear to be life threatening
So scary! They must be devastated. Hope they have the best recovery possible.
Godspeed for recovery. It is a tragedy, but these two men are absolute beasts and will probably be just fine. Not saying it wasnt bad, just saying that I have confidence in them to overcome this with great strength.
That is terrifying. I’m glad it wasn’t fatal though. I hope they recover from this.
I’m concerned by the logical reasoning used to link the shooting victims to the alleged altercation. While the police report stated there was an altercation, according to reports, there are no indicators that connect either swimmer to that event. Unless the articles are leaving out extremely critical information, reporters are making a flawed assumption in linking two happenings without logical evidence.
Dude that’s because they’re all Max’s family. Swim parents are wild.
Your response goes counter to my assertion. The news reports are creating an unjustified narrative based off assumptions made about the incident and an altercation. The news reports offer no evidence associating the two occurrences factually. It is merely an assumption made by the reporters. Further, while I can’t refute, I highly doubt all posted comments are family members of the victims.
Hello “Concerned Swimmer” – can you point out where the “reporters” (I assume you’re referring to Torrey) made that leap? It seems to me as though you’ve made that leap when the verbiage you are pointing to is not there.
The inclusion of information about an altercation is irrelevant if not explicitly related to the situation involving the swimmers. Without evidence that such a piece of information is relevant to the article, it is an assumption. Whether that is right or wrong is subject to an ongoing investigation. I am simply concerned for the sake of the swimmers than currently unnecessary information is tarnishing their and the universities names.
The inclusion of the police’s belief altercation that may have sparked a shooting is irrelevant? I disagree, whether the athletes were involved in the altercation or not. But, it sounds like we’re going to have to agree to disagree.
I disagree with your take, then, Concerned Swimmer. I didn’t read any connection between the two events until I saw your comment and the ones by Mike McHugh. I think that leaving that information out, if it was in the police report, would run the risk of spreading fear of random gun violence – which according to police this was not (whether the boys were targeted or not, an altercation indicates that someone was shooting at someone else in particular, not just out joyriding and firing into crowds for fun).
To solve that issue, if the report does not include evidence showing the swimmers were involved, would be to include wording that shows uncertainty about the swimmers involvement. Currently, the situation is left open for interpretation as to their involvement in an altercation. Alerting readers that an altercation occurred is fair, for the reason described, but it should also be noted that there isn’t a clear connection between the victims and the altercation.
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune article about the cluster of shootings that night. Maybe the description of how the two events were related could have been better defined, but the police made the connection, initially. Torrey got it right with the information she had to work with at the time. Seems relevant to me.
“Police found two 21-year-old men with gunshot wounds — one to the knee, the other to the elbow. Both were taken to HCMC. The men told police they were sitting on a curb when someone started shooting; police, citing witnesses, said the incident was preceded by an altercation at a nearby restaurant.”
Full article: http://www.startribune.com/one-man-dead-after-a-night-of-three-shootings-in-minneapolis/513288452/
How is McHugh 21 if he is one of the two 21 year old males as described and still on the National Jr Team this past year? Seems like there was little to no fact checking by the star tribune.
Sure that’s possible. It also wouldn’t be the strangest thing in the world for a 19-year old to have an identification card that indicated that he was 21 at 2:15AM on a Saturday morning while sitting on a curb downtown waiting for a pizza.
Beat me to it. Or claimed he didn’t have an ID with him, and verbally stated his age as 21. Both scenarios are plausible.