Members of the union representing Minneapolis teachers voted Friday to authorize a strike, staging a potential walkout for scores of education workers.

Support professionals with the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers voted to authorize the strike Friday night. At least 92% voted in favor. The vote allows union leaders to call a strike if necessary, although state law requires they notify the district 10 days before a strike begins.

Union members negotiating with Minneapolis Public Schools have argued for a “substantial” wage increase, affordable health care and plans to encourage retention.

“Most education support professionals in the Minneapolis Public Schools are not paid enough to live in Minneapolis without taking a second job. This is not acceptable. One job should be enough,” Catina Taylor, president of the union’s education support professionals chapter, said in a statement. “No one wants to strike, but we’ve been working on an expired contract for more than 300 days. We’ve waited long enough.”

Video taken Saturday morning and shared on the union’s social media page showed dozens of people picketing outside Folwell Elementary School. Most wore blue while chanting “Solidarity!” Some held signs reading “Recruit students & retain educators.”

Their picket comes hours after Minneapolis Public Schools agreed on a tentative contract with union teachers, averting a strike authorization vote scheduled for Thursday and Friday. District officials plan to release details of that contract after teachers vote to ratify it. Teachers are expected to vote between May 8 and May 10.

Support professionals plan to continue negotiations with the district during a mediation session planned for May 1. Negotiations could continue without a state mediator before then.

Star Tribune staff writer Tim Harlow contributed to this story.

MINNEAPOLIS — Three Minneapolis teenagers are shot in a span of four days concluding a particularly violent week in the Twin Cities.

“It was like really a quick several rounds,” said Minneapolis resident Kim Choyke.

Choyke has lived in the NE Minneapolis area for 10 years and says she loves it, but Friday’s early morning shooting says the shooting has left her shaken up.

“Very upsetting having it be almost literally in my backyard,” Choyke said.

Early Friday morning, a 14-year-old boy was shot outside a gas station in Northeast Minneapolis while sitting inside an SUV. He later died at the hospital.

BREAKING NEWS: Shooting reported at YMCA in Coon Rapids

On Monday, two 15-year-old boys were shot in Minneapolis.

Investigators say the two teens shot Monday were inside of a stolen Kia. The same vehicle was spotted driving recklessly and running red lights before the shooting.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara says last weekend, 90 cars were stolen, 70 of them Kia’s.

“Just this overlap, stolen Kia’s, stolen Hyundai’s, illegal guns, violent crime is really just producing a lot of harm,” O’Hara said.

Going into the weekend– O’Hara says a new strategy is in place where juvenile investigators are on call 24/7.

“Clearly there is a need to have juvenile investigators available all the time because we are having these crimes happen at all different times around the clock,” O’Hara said.

A coordinated response to hopefully save some young lives.

“We are hopeful that will also help us get our hands around some of these issues,” said O’Hara.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – For the second time in as many months, gunfire has erupted at the gas station Augustine Lora can see from his backyard.

“It is shocking. It is totally shocking, It’s kind of concerning that it’s happening in the same place,” Lora told FOX 9.

Police were called to the gas station in the 2600 block of University Avenue Northeast around 3 a.m. on Friday after getting reports someone had been shot.

They found a 14-year-old with gunshot wounds lying on the ground outside an SUV. The teen died a few hours later at the Hennepin County Medical Center.

Investigators believe the 14-year-old was in the SUV, when someone opened fire from another car that had pulled into the parking lot.

“The whole community should be outraged. When a child is killed like this at 3:00 in the morning, it’s totally unacceptable,” said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

Just last month, Fox 9 showed you surveillance video from a shootout between teenagers at the same gas station in late February, that nearly killed innocent bystanders.

That shooting left one of the teenagers involved critically injured.

Police arrested 17-year-old suspects who have been charged with second degree attempted murder and assault.

“We don’t have information to suggest that it’s a problematic property, but it’s definitely a concern now there’s a second incident there,” said O’Hara.

Lora would like to see more police patrols near the 24-hour gas station to make sure their neighborhood is safe.

“I’m not saying we don’t feel protected by them but apparently there’s a lot more work to do around here for sure,” said Lora.

Police did arrest a 30-year-old woman on an unrelated warrant. 

They are still trying to determine how she is connected to Friday morning’s shooting.