Another exciting weekend in Minneapolis crime
A carjacking/robbery spree near the state’s flagship University ends with overturned car on I-35W.
As if the University of Minnesota police (UMPD) didn’t have enough to deal with this weekend with the impending snowstorm, this is the alert they sent out just past midnight on Saturday night,
(I redacted the plate number.) As KSTP reports, that carjacking was followed within the hour by a series of armed robberies, followed by a second armed carjacking, all within 90 minutes or so. KSTP reports on how the whole thing ended,
Officers attempted a traffic stop but the vehicle fled at a high rate of speed as police pursued it. According to officials, the vehicle exited onto northbound 35W and at around 1:33 a.m., it crashed near the Johnson Street Northeast exit and flipped over onto I-35W South.
The police report filed in the case allege the driver reached speeds near 100 MPH on the interstate.
Now, it’s not clear whether the carjackings and robberies were all committed by the same person(s).
KSTP names a name:
UMPD police arrested 20-year-old Khalid Abdi Mahamud, who they believe was involved in at least two of the three robberies. He was brought to HCMC with apparent non-life-threatening injuries and once he is cleared by medical staff, Mahamud will be booked into Hennepin County Jail.
Sure enough, after his detour through the county hospital, Mr. Mahamud was booked into the county jail shortly after 3 in the afternoon, yesterday, looking a little worse for the wear.
He’s scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon. He is being charged with 4 separate felony counts arising from the incident(s). His court records list no fewer than eight (8) aliases. Prosecutors are requesting bond of $100,000.
The police allege that the weapon involved was a stolen Glock, loaded, with an extended magazine.
Presumably, the weekend’s flurry of activities has been incorporated into the city’s official crime statistics, which now stands as follows:
In this instance, blue triangles are bad.
Two carjackings in 90 minutes run against the recent tide, where Minneapolis has been averaging fewer than one per day. As you can see above, motor vehicle thefts of all kinds are significantly down from recent averages.
Local media and politicians seize on every downward blip in a subcategory to declare that “crime is over” in the state’s largest city.
However, the action has simply moved elsewhere, and it has focused on armed robbery as of late.
Things have gotten so bad, the city police chief says that they may have to cease investigating property crimes (which are up in every category) to free up resources.
To help the situation, KSTP also reports that the UMPD will be taking more primary responsibility for off-campus areas.
And Winter slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!