From the Twin Cities weekend crime recap
Minneapolis police engaged in a pursuit of a shooting suspect Friday morning after the suspect vehicle rammed a squad in north Minneapolis, according to dispatch audio. The pursuit quickly crossed into Northeast Minneapolis over the Lowry Bridge during which an officer aired that the suspect was wanted in a homicide.
Six minutes after the pursuit started, the suspect vehicle crashed near 2nd and University avenues southeast while headed toward the University of Minnesota campus area. Video clips submitted to Crime Watch show the immediate aftermath of the crash where one of the suspects was dragged out of the vehicle by police at gunpoint.
We've obtained a couple more video clips of this morning's arrest of a reported homicide suspect following a crash of the suspect vehicle during a pursuit that ended near 2nd Ave SE and University Ave SE. pic.twitter.com/EKzRSbCyBx
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) March 11, 2023
Officers aired during the incident that the driver was trapped in the vehicle and that police also found a gun in the car. The suspected “target” was also wearing an empty holster, they aired. At least three EMS rigs were requested to the scene. Four people were eventually transported to the hospital under police escort, according to dispatch audio.
Police later told media that the vehicle had been reported stolen and that the driver sustained potentially life-threatening injuries in the crash.
Jail and court records show that Norman Wesley Parker, 35, of north Minneapolis was the arrested shooting suspect.
Parker was charged on Monday in Hennepin County District Court in two separate cases, including two counts of attempted murder, drive-by shooting, and felon in possession of a firearm in one case involving a Jan. 4, 2023 shooting in north Minneapolis. Charges in the case say Parker pulled up to a vehicle containing two females, at least one of them known to him, and opened fire on the vehicle at West Broadway and Fremont avenues north. The passenger was injured with multiple gunshots to her lower body and was privately transported to Abbott Hospital. The driver of the vehicle later told police she knew Parker as “Shooter” and had interacted with him inside a residence earlier in the evening while the victim who was later shot had remained in the vehicle. Charges say the gun found in the vehicle following the pursuit on Friday was ballistically tested and was determined to be the gun used in the Jan. 4 shooting as casings from the test fire matched casings found at the drive-by shooting scene.
Parker is charged in a second case with being a felon in possession of a firearm or ammunition in connection to Friday’s pursuit incident. Charges reiterate that Parker had a live round of ammunition on his person as well as the empty gun holster.
Parker is prohibited from possessing firearms due to several prior felony convictions, including being a felon in possession of a firearm, narcotics, domestic assault, and first-degree aggravated robbery.
Parker remained in custody on Monday on $1 million bail in the attempted murder case. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance in both new cases on Tuesday.
Read more in the Twin Cities weekend crime recap.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
