Investigators Link Woodbury Man to 4-Vehicle Minneapolis Crash
BY MN CRIME STAFF
A 35-year-old man is facing multiple felony charges after allegedly causing a violent Minneapolis crash in 2024 that left another driver with life-threatening injuries.
Investigators later linked the suspect to a recovered handgun, despite him being legally prohibited from possessing ammo or a firearm.
The crash happened Nov. 27, 2024, at the intersection of 8th Street South and Park Avenue in Minneapolis, where police responded to a four-vehicle collision involving two moving vehicles and two parked, unoccupied cars.
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Tarris Tareze Leshawn Trapps, of Woodbury, is charged with felony possession of ammunition or a firearm by a person convicted of a crime of violence and felony criminal vehicular operation causing great bodily harm through gross negligence, according to the criminal complaint filed Feb. 12, 2026.
The weapons charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine, while the criminal vehicular operation charge carries a maximum sentence of five years and a $10,000 fine.
Investigators say security camera footage showed a Toyota RAV4 traveling northbound through the intersection on a green light when a Jeep Grand Cherokee traveling eastbound entered the intersection and struck the Toyota midway through. Both vehicles then crashed into two parked vehicles before coming to a stop.
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The driver of the Toyota suffered severe injuries and was unable to speak coherently when first responders arrived. Medical staff later told officers the victim sustained a basilar skull fracture, multiple rib fractures, a pelvic fracture, a collapsed lung and internal bleeding.
Paramedics reported seeing two people flee from the Jeep immediately after the crash. One man, described as wearing a green hooded sweatshirt and grey sweatpants, ran northbound on Chicago Avenue while carrying a gun. A second man also fled on foot.
During a search of the area, officers recovered a green letterman jacket, a handgun magazine near the Jeep and a black handgun missing its magazine inside a city garbage bin near Park Avenue and 7th Street South.
According to investigators, DNA testing linked Trapps to multiple locations inside the Jeep, including the steering wheel, gear shift and interior passenger door. Documents found in the glove compartment showed Trapps had previously taken the vehicle to a repair shop and DNA testing on the handgun showed the mixed DNA profile was about “100 billion times” more likely the defendant was one of the contributors than if it came only from unknown, unrelated individuals.
Trapps is legally prohibited from possessing ammunition or firearms because of prior felony convictions in Ramsey County.
Court records show Trapps was convicted in 2016 of felony sex-trafficking-related offenses, including aiding and abetting sex trafficking, following a 2015 investigation involving multiple victims. The criminal complaint in that case alleges he participated in recruiting and controlling victims involved in prostitution activity across Saint Paul and surrounding areas.
