Four minors between the ages of 11 and 14 were shot by fully-automatic gunfire while “joyriding” in a stolen Kia early Sunday in Minneapolis.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said police were responding around 1 a.m. to ShotSpotter activations in the area of West Broadway and Girard when they were notified of a 911 call from the 1400 block of Plymouth Avenue North. Officers responded to the location and found five minors inside the car, four of whom had gunshot wounds, O’Hara said during a media briefing.
Two boys and two girls between the ages of 11 and 14 were injured. Officers provided aid and the injured parties were transported to Hennepin County Medical Center. Both boys have non-life-threatening gunshot wounds along with one of the girls; the second girl suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was in critical but stable condition as of early Sunday, O’Hara said.
The five minors were inside a stolen Kia when a dark-colored sedan began following their car and fired fully-automatic gunfire, according to a preliminary investigation. O’Hara said about 30 shell casings were recovered from the scene, but police believe more rounds may have been fired.
“This is a tremendous problem that we’ve been having over the last two years that I’ve been here—juveniles involved in joyriding in stolen cars and then becoming involved in more and more serious crime,” O’Hara said.
“What’s most notable over the course of the year is while there’s fewer of these cars being stolen, the activity that these juveniles are involved with has become more and more brazen,” he continued.
“One car chasing another car with fully-automatic gunfire—it just shows really brazen and callous behavior,” O’Hara commented. “In a lot of ways we’re failing to deter this activity. Two of the five juveniles involved in this incident tonight were arrested not even two weeks ago for being in a stolen car. We are failing to deter this behavior and with that being said, we are failing these kids as well. Four kids shot between 11 and 14 is outrageous and everyone should be up in arms over it. The police are doing everything that we can in response to this, but we can’t keep responding after the fact, we can’t keep arresting these kids. More needs to be done to deter this type of activity in the first place.
“When you get caught joyriding in a stolen car, especially if it’s multiple times, there needs to be a consequence.”
No arrests have been made. Police said the fifth juvenile occupant of the vehicle was detained and ultimately released to his parents. He cannot be charged with a crime because he is 11 years old.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
