Four minors injured in Minneapolis shooting involving stolen vehicle

Four minors, ranging in age from 11 to 14 years old, were shot inside a stolen Kia in Minneapolis early Sunday. One of the occupants of the car was uninjured.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said a dark colored sedan pulled up behind the Kia and began firing shots. The sedan left the area before officers arrived.

Police responded to the incident in the 1400 block of Plymouth Avenue North around 1 a.m. after responding to multiple ShotSpotter alerts nearby in the area.

Officers provided medical aid until firefighters and EMS arrived, according to the police press release, and all four were transported by ambulance to HCMC. Two boys and one girl had apparent non-life threatening injuries, while one girl had life-threatening injuries. The fifth juvenile, who was uninjured, was transported home.

“Four kids shot between eleven and fourteen is outrageous and everyone should be up in arms over it,” O’Hara said. “The police are doing everything that we can in response to this, but we can’t keep responding after the fact. More needs to be done to deter this type of activity in the first place.”

O’Hara noted that over the last two years, juveniles being involved in joy-riding with stolen vehicles, frequently Kia and Hyundai models, has been a “tremendous problem.” The police chief noted that the number of thefts of these two models has dropped by a quarter, and they were less than half of all vehicles stolen in the city.

“While there’s fewer of these cars are being stolen, the activity that these juveniles are involved in have become more brazen,” O’Hara said. “There’s been more aggravated assaults, more robberies, more hit and runs. [There’s been] more serious crimes more frequently committed by those individuals who are involved in the theft of these cars.

“We are failing to deter this behavior and with that we are failing these kids as well,” O’Hara added.

No arrests have been made in the case.