Frantic parents took cover behind cars, desperate to crawl to their kids but caught in the middle of a gun battle between a nearby group and a car that circled the park, spraying bullets across the field where the Jays were playing.Minneapolis officials have described an unprecedented burst of violence following George Floyd’s Memorial Day death, after an officer held him down with a knee to his neck, sparking worldwide fury and massive protests. At least 113 people have been shot since May 25, eight fatally, according to Minneapolis police, with hundreds of reports of gunfire across the city, including several shootings in broad daylight.The spike in violence has come amid a raging debate over the role the Minneapolis Police Department should play in addressing crime in this city. Minneapolis police on Tuesday reported a recent increase in robberies and carjackings in the Third and Fifth Precinct areas. Some residents have accused officers of purposefully curbing response to crime, which police deny. MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - South Minneapolis residents say they’ve seen an increase in crime lately, including apartment break-ins and carjackings at gunpoint. And she pointedly said the police department was still in place.“We still have a police department today,” Bender told the Star Tribune. Officers have been working in “unbelievable conditions,” Arradondo said, but they “continue to show up and continue to serve.”But many residents have said in recent days that they have noticed a less robust presence from the police department, including in South Minneapolis, where they have seen fewer patrol cars in the past four weeks, even as there have been more sounds of gunshots and reports of crime.One South Minneapolis resident, who declined to be named out of fear of retribution, said after past police killings in the region, officers often tried to ease tensions within the community, by driving around with their windows down to encourage more interaction. The death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police on Memorial Day, sparked a call for reforming police practices that quickly morphed into demands to “defund police” — an idea that the A political drive to defund police risks a return to the high-crime era of the 1960s and 1970s that damaged so many American cities. But when David Trueblood, a coach for the Minnesota Jays youth football team, felt a bullet go whizzing by his head and heard the rapid pings of metal spray across a fence in Jordan Park, he screamed for his players, 50 kids ages 5 to 14, to hit the ground.“I thought somebody was going to die,” Trueblood said.As gunfire rang out early Monday evening here on the city’s north side, Trueblood and six other coaches threw their bodies atop as many children as they could. 39 victims have lost their lives since the beginning of the year. Neighboring Downtown West, which encompasses the entertainment district and historically has had high crime rates, saw a more modest increase of 16% in 2019, when compared with recent years. They were like his own kids. Philadelphia reported a 28 percent increase in commercial burglaries, 51 percent in shootings, 22 percent in auto theft and 28 percent in retail theft from last year. MINNEAPOLIS — At first, it sounded like fireworks, a loud crackling noise that has become the daily soundtrack of the city in recent weeks. “Its funding has not changed from three weeks ago.”The fear of a potentially violent summer has scared Minneapolis residents still traumatized by Floyd’s death and the chaos that followed, including the fiery protests that burned and destroyed several hundred buildings across the city.In North Minneapolis, Monday’s close call has forced Trueblood and his Minnesota Jays to scramble to find a new place to practice and play. Violent crime overall was 16 percent higher and property crime 20 percent higher than recent low points in 2018.In New York City, shootings had increased 18 percent, burglaries 31 percent and car-jackings 64 percent. But what did that mean in Minneapolis at a moment like this?“We’ve played in the middle of Chicago, and nothing like this has ever happened,” Trueblood said. The letter provides robbery prevention tips residents should heed in light of rising violence. “You get what’s happening from people not fearing police being called.”Lisa Bender, the president of the City Council, who has led efforts to dismantle the police department, did not respond to a request for comment. “We’re going to restore order.