Minneapolis man charged with kidnapping, theft after vehicle with child inside stolen in Dinkytown

A Minneapolis man has been charged with kidnapping and theft after a vehicle with a child inside was stolen Wednesday night in Dinkytown.

Sharmarke Ahmed Abdi, 27, has been charged with one count of kidnapping and one count of theft of a vehicle.

Officers responded after receiving a report at about 11:23 p.m. that a vehicle, with a 7-year-old child inside, had been stolen in the area of Fourth Street Southeast and 12th Avenue Southeast.

Police said a woman, working as a food delivery driver at the time, stepped away from the running vehicle when a man, later identified as Abdi, got into the vehicle and drove away, with the child still inside.

The woman’s cellphone was in the vehicle and Minneapolis police, University of Minnesota police and Minnesota State Patrol troopers coordinated efforts to track the phone to locate the vehicle and child.

According to a criminal complaint, police learned the vehicle was involved in a hit-and-run incident in the area shortly after the theft was reported.

A Minneapolis K9 squad located the vehicle near Eighth Avenue Southeast and Second Street Southeast at about 12:20 a.m. Thursday. Police stopped the vehicle and took Abdi into custody without incident.

The child was unharmed, police said, and was reunited with his mother.

In an interview after his arrest, Abdi admitted to stealing the vehicle and knowing the child was inside at the time, the complaint states.

Abdi was scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday afternoon.