A teenager suspected of carjacking a vehicle at gunpoint in Minneapolis on Thursday, Oct. 8, was arrested after the vehicle struck a marked squad car and an officer fired a weapon, Minneapolis police said.
The Minneapolis Police Department identified the suspect only as a 16-year-old boy in a release issued Friday, Oct. 9. The release reports an arrest and does not list any charges.
Officers were called to the area of West 31st Street and Pillsbury Avenue at about 4:45 p.m. on Oct. 8 on a report of a person with a gun, and the call was later updated to a carjacking at gunpoint, police said.
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Preliminary information indicates the suspect tried to carjack one vehicle at gunpoint, but the driver drove away, police said. The suspect then carjacked a second vehicle at gunpoint and fled in it, according to the release. Officers used cameras to locate and track that vehicle while squads moved into position to intercept it, police said.
The carjacked vehicle traveled south on Pleasant Avenue from Lake Street, according to the release. A marked squad car turned north onto Pleasant Avenue from West 31st Street and stopped midblock, and the carjacked vehicle struck it, police said.
“During that interaction, an MPD officer fired a weapon,” the release says. The release does not say whether the shot hit anyone. Minneapolis police Sgt. Garrett Parten said at a news conference that no one was seriously injured, KSTP reported, and WCCO Radio reported that the boy was not shot. The officer who fired the weapon was not injured, police said.
The suspect ran from the vehicle, and officers chased him and took him into custody near West 31st Street and Grand Avenue South, police said. He was taken to Hennepin Healthcare for evaluation, according to the release.
Two officers sustained minor injuries during the arrest, police said. One had a small cut to the face and another had a minor ankle injury, according to the release.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is conducting an independent investigation of the incident, including the officer’s discharge of a firearm, police said. The BCA will be the source of any further public information during the investigation, according to the release.
