Armed home invasion charges filed against 17-year-old in Hennepin County

Hennepin County prosecutors have charged a 17-year-old as an adult with two felony counts of burglary and assault following a string of armed home invasions in Minneapolis during the first nine days of December.

In court documents, prosecutors allege the teenager — in at least one home invasion — carried an AR-15 firearm and burst through the front door of a woman’s home in south Minneapolis with another suspect who was also armed with a handgun.

Prosecutors said he and one of the suspects also hit the burglary victim "over the head with his firearm" and then "pointed his firearm at her and started to count down, five, four…"

In a Hennepin County search warrant, publicly released on Dec. 20, investigators said, "[the 17-year-old] has numerous priors in PIMS, including aggravated robbery, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and carjacking."

In the written warrant, investigators said they had also been involved in a "flee from P3 officers" incident and had a "violent history."

Those same investigators said they had reason to believe the teenager was connected to at least two of five armed home invasions in early December.