Four children between the ages of 11 and 14 were shot in a stolen car at 1 a.m. on Sunday in Minneapolis.
Minneapolis police were notified of gunshots from ShotSpotter activations in West Broadway and Girard Avenue, along with a 911 call on Plymouth Avenue North reporting shots being fired at a vehicle with five people inside.
Officers arrived at the scene and issued first aid to two boys and two girls with gunshot wounds who were sent to Hennepin County Medical Center.
“Both boys have non-life threatening gunshot wounds, one of the girls has non-life threatening gunshot wounds, and the second girl has a bullet wound to her head. She’s in critical but stable condition,” said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara in a news conference at the crime scene.
Around 30 bullet casings were found at the scene but O’Hara says it’s possible more bullets were fired, with some of the casings dropping into the suspects’ vehicle.
The initial investigation determined five minors were inside a stolen Kia with one of them driving, when a dark-colored sedan began following, and someone inside fired an automatic weapon.
“What happened here—one car chasing another car with fully automatic gunfire—it just shows really brazen and callous behavior. They don’t care about their own lives, let alone the lives of other people,” O’Hara said.
The Minneapolis Data Source crime summary shows car thefts in 2024 sit at 4,251 compared to 5,483 in 2023. Despite the decrease, O’Hara says incidents of minors stealing cars have been linked to more serious crimes.
“While there are fewer cars being stolen, again, the cars that are being stolen here, particularly among juveniles, are connected to more and more serious crimes, and that’s across the board. Robberies, assaults, you name it.”
O’Hara stated that two minors involved in the incident were arrested two weeks ago for stealing a 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 uninjured fifth minor, 11, was taken into custody before being released to his parents, as Minnesota law states that “children under the age of 14 years are incapable of committing crime.”
O’Hara told reporters in another news conference on Aug. 20, “The idea of catch-and-release with violent juveniles is not working. It’s not fair to the kids involved or to the victims of serious crime.”
With the number of crimes committed by minors, the Minnesota Department of Commerce joined with local law enforcement to create the Youth Auto Theft Early Intervention initiative in June 2023 to help reduce incidents of minors stealing cars. The program is split into two parts; the first is to step in before the crime takes place. The second part fast-tracks legal reviews for minors who have preexisting car theft cases that have been presented to Hennepin County Attorney Office by the police.
Other programs include the Youth Group Violence Intervention initiative, which aims to lower mob- or gang-related violence and give assistance or resources to break cycles of violence.
“Juvenile investigators referred two cases to the county attorney’s office involving to the individuals for felony charges on Aug. 9,” O’Hara said during the Aug. 20 press conference. “The kids weren’t charged, they weren’t diverted, and despite pleas from their parents begging for help, begging for them to be detained, they were let back out into the street into the same environment to commit more crimes which they did over the weekend.”
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty responded in a statement, saying, “None of the children aged 11 to 13 who were shot while riding in a stolen car over the weekend had been referred to our office by law enforcement for Youth Auto Theft Early Intervention.”
Police are referring young offenders to community-based outreach resources and diversion programs more often, but more needs to be done to prevent these crimes from occurring, O’Hara said.
“I’ll tell you, here it feels like we have to take the fun out of it. When you get caught joyriding a stolen car, especially if it’s multiple times, there needs to be a consequence, and I feel like that’s where we have failed here.”