2 teens injured in shooting, crash involving stolen Kias in north Minneapolis

2 teens injured in shooting, crash involving stolen Kias in north Minneapolis

Police say two teen boys were injured Thursday evening in a shooting and crash involving stolen Kias in north Minneapolis.

Police say two teen boys were injured Thursday evening in a shooting and crash involving stolen Kias in north Minneapolis.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said officers first responded to a ShotSpotter activation near the intersection of North 30th and Irving Avenues around 7:30 p.m. One teen was found at the scene with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

A block away, at the corner of 30th and James avenues, another teen was found shot in the head inside a white Kia sedan that had crashed onto the sidewalk. Across the street, another vehicle had smashed through a wooden fence and into a front yard. A third vehicle, a black Kia, was found abandoned further down the street at the corner of Knox Avenue.

Both of the Kias had steering column damage indicating they had been stolen, and there were bullet holes in the white Kia, which investigators believe rammed into an unoccupied vehicle parked on the street, sending it through the fence. Spent cartridge casings were scattered along 30th Avenue.

The two juveniles who were shot, ages 16 and 17, were brought to North Memorial Health Hospital for treatment. The 17-year-old suffered a life-threatening gunshot wound to the head, O’Hara said.

Using a K-9, police tracked down and arrested one person who was in the black Kia. It’s unclear how the suspect was involved.

O’Hara expressed his frustration at yet another incident involving juveniles, guns and stolen Kias.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s a broken record,” O’Hara said. “Stolen Kias, stolen Hyundais, juveniles, guns involved, and we see the result: We have one teenager with a life-threatening gunshot wound and another who was shot.”