A string of armed robberies in a four-hour span this weekend has a Minneapolis neighborhood on edge.

Minneapolis police told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS there were three armed robberies and two attempted armed robberies Saturday afternoon southwest Minneapolis near Lake Harriet.

Monday night Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, Hennepin County Sheriff Dwanna Witt, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and other city and county leaders met virtually with nearly 300 neighborhood residents.

O’Hara told residents the juvenile suspects were in two stolen cars and either showed a weapon or implied they had one when the crimes occurred.

“And the problem that relates to what is happening here, what happened over the weekend, is these kids are not being held accountable for what is happening,” O’Hara said. “So when these kids are joyriding in these cars and we take them into custody, they are not being booked. They’re immediately being released.”

Moriarty said there are some juveniles placed in the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center depending on the level of the crime they’re accused of committing.

“If a kid is brought in on an aggravated robbery, which means something that has been described with a gun, stealing a car or something like that, that kid would be booked into the JDC,” Moriarty said.

Moriarty also said there are only nine group homes for juveniles in the state, and none are in Hennepin County.

“And the truth is we do not have appropriate resources for youth,” Moriarty said. “So when you’re asking — like the chief talked about — 10-, 11-, 12-, 13-year-olds who are stealing cars, we don’t have enough appropriate facilities to put them in.”

Minneapolis police said one of the stolen vehicles used in Saturday’s crimes was found abandoned but no arrests have yet been made.