On November 5, 2025, Edina police officers were dispatched to a report of a robbery at the McDonald's on Southdale Circle, within the city of Edina, Hennepin County, where a male pointed a firearm at a female victim [NAME REDACTED]. Officers arrived and located an adult female Victim sitting in the grass crying and clearly distraught. She was shaking, crying, and saying, “I didn’t do anything to anyone.” Officers could see a large bump near her left eye, and she was transported to the hospital for injuries sustained.
Victim [NAME REDACTED] in the area via bus to go to Cub Foods. She observed two males walking and yelling. One of the males, later identified as STEVE AVILA, [DOB REDACTED], Defendant herein, was described as a white male with “fuzzy” facial hair and wearing a black baseball hat, black sunglasses, a black T-shirt, and jeans, ran up to and pointed a pistol at her stomach and stated, “give me your money, b****.” When Victim [NAME REDACTED] did not have any, she was pushed to the ground by the male.
While she was on the ground, the male “pistol whipped” her in the face. The male then kicked her in the back and ran northbound on York Avenue. As officers responded, they located the suspected male, later identified as Defendant, nearby. Defendant refused commands from law enforcement and began fleeing on foot. Officers engaged in a foot pursuit and ultimately detained the Defendant. In a search incident to arrest, officers located the slide portion of a BB gun in Defendant’s pocket. Witness 1, a friend of Defendant, had his airsoft pistol at Defendant’s house with them earlier in the day, and Defendant took the airsoft pistol with them when they left his house.
Witness 1 stated that he saw Defendant “taking it out of his pocket and s***” and that he was trying to tell him to stop so that they could get on with their day and “not have s*** go down.” Witness 1 further stated that when they saw the cops, Defendant “threw the pipe” - referring to the airsoft gun. Witness 1 pointed to some bushes at the southeast corner of the intersection and stated that was where he saw Defendant throw the gun down. Bloomington Police K9 later located the airsoft gun at that specific location in a small bush.
Police acquired multiple business surveillance videos which showed Defendant handling what appears to be the firearm in the video. In a post-Miranda interview, Defendant admitted not knowing the Victim was a female and stated “now I feel bad. I’m going to hell bro, f***.” Defendant admitted he was dared to “run up” on the Victim [NAME REDACTED] did and pointed the gun at her, but that it was all “just for fun” like things seen on YouTube. Defendant stated he was intoxicated with his intoxication level rated a 7 out of 10. It was his birthday and out having fun.
Defendant is currently in custody pending charges from this incident.
