A 49-year-old woman was “punched and sprayed with mace” during an attempted carjacking Friday night in Edina, according to police.
Police say they were called to the 4300 block of Sunnyside Road just after 5 p.m. on a report of an attempted carjacking and aggravated robbery.
According to police:
“The 49-year-old victim was visiting someone in the neighborhood. Upon returning to her vehicle, another vehicle pulled up and two teenage girls jumped out. They demanded the victim’s car and said they had a gun. The victim resisted and was punched and sprayed with mace. The suspects stole the victim’s wallet and cell phone, but were not able to take the vehicle. The victim refused medical assistance at the scene.”
The suspect vehicle was stolen from Minneapolis earlier this week in a separate carjacking. It is a silver-colored 2016 Chevrolet Malibu with Minnesota license plate EVT-953.
Police encouraged residents to check their home security cameras for any footage of the vehicle.
Anyone with information should call the Edina Police Department’s non-emergency line, 952-826-1600, at any time.
The posh suburb has suffered an increase in criminal activity in recent weeks, so much so that the mayor declared his city to be “under attack from mobile criminals.”
Hundreds of Minnesotans from across the metro gathered in Edina just before Christmas for a “community meeting” focused on addressing the rise in crime.
“The time for us to be ignored is over,” one victim said. “We’ve watched two years of an inflating crime rate go through the roof. We are being terrorized in our homes, in our cars and in our everyday lives.”
