The Department of Justice announced charges Friday against Edward Tiki Arrington, who is accused of killing two women and seriously injuring a child when he crashed into them in a vehicle he carjacked.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office described Arrington’s actions as a “carjacking and shooting crime spree” that targeted at least eight victims on Thursday morning.
“Two young women should be alive today. Instead, their lives were cut short by a senseless crime committed by a career criminal,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson. “They deserved better. We all deserve better. I am weary of this endless violence. Minnesota deserves peace. We will keep fighting to restore it.”
Arrington has been charged with one count of carjacking and one count of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. He faces a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison and up to life in prison if convicted. Carjacking resulting in death is a death penalty-eligible crime, according to the U.S Attorney’s Office.
Thompson’s office explained in a press release:
“According to the complaint, around 8 a.m. on September 4, 2025, 911 calls began to come in about a man with a gun around 334 Lake Street East in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Edward Tiki Arrington, also known as Troy Mike Payton, was the gunman.
Arrington was driving erratically towards Lake Street that morning. He was speeding, swerving into oncoming traffic, and driving on the sidewalk. Arrington drove his red SUV through a red light and crashed into another car, a white Infiniti SUV.
Arrington got out of his red SUV and ran towards the other car, pointing a gun at the driver. Arrington tried to open the door of the white Infiniti, but the driver accelerated and was able to get away from Arrington.
Arrington then ran towards another car, a black Volkswagen Passat. Again, Arrington brandished his firearm at the driver. Arrington carjacked the driver, a second victim. He ordered the driver out of her car at gunpoint, got into the black Passat, and drove the car against traffic.
Arrington drove the black Passat back to his red SUV. Arrington tried to remove two dogs from his red SUV. He was eventually able to get the dogs into the carjacked Passat.
As this was happening, a black Jeep approached the intersection. Arrington pointed his gun at a third victim, the driver of the black Jeep. The driver ducked and she was able to accelerate away.
Arrington then ran up to a fourth victim, a woman walking on foot on Lake Street. Arrington ran up to the pedestrian and pointed his gun at her. The pedestrian put her hands up. Arrington grabbed her hands and demanded to know where her guns were. The pedestrian said she didn’t have a gun. Arrington released her and ran back to the carjacked Passat.
As Arrington began to drive away in the black Passat, he fired a shot out of the vehicle. He appeared to be shooting at a work van, whose driver was driving past the black Passat. Arrington left the intersection around 8:10 a.m. and drove to North Minneapolis.
The Minneapolis Police Department sent out a city-wide notice that the black Volkswagen Passat was used in a shots-fired call. MPD officers located Arrington driving the carjacked black Passat in North Minneapolis. Officers attempted to pull Arrington over but he fled, driving towards downtown Minneapolis. Recognizing the immediate threat to public safety and human life, officers followed.
Arrington sped through the intersection of Penn Avenue and Olson Memorial Boulevard, running a red light without stopping. As he did so, Arrington crashed at full speed into a blue Ford Focus sedan, which was driving lawfully through the intersection. In crashing his carjacked vehicle into the blue sedan, Arrington killed two women in their twenties and seriously injured a six-year-old child in the back seat; the child suffered bilateral femur fractures and a traumatic brain injury. One of the women killed was the child’s mother.
Arrington has a long and extensive criminal history that includes state convictions for assault and firearms offenses and a 2009 federal conviction for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.”
