One day after a drive-by shooting injured four kids in north Minneapolis, the Hennepin County attorney and Minneapolis police chief are sparring over strategies to stop the cycle of juvenile crime.

Police said the four victims were inside a stolen Kia around 1 a.m. Sunday when automatic gunfire erupted from a vehicle following them on West Broadway Avenue.

Two boys and two girls between the ages of 11 and 14 were injured, and one girl who was shot in the head was brought to the hospital in critical condition. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said on Monday that all of the victims were expected to survive.

“I think, in a lot of ways, we are failing to deter this activity,” O’Hara said the night of the shooting. “Two of the five juveniles involved in this incident were arrested not even two weeks ago for being in a stolen car.”

In a statement on Monday, a spokesperson for Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said none of the juveniles were referred to her office for youth auto theft early intervention.

O’Hara called a news conference later in the afternoon to counter that claim, saying the two juveniles in question were detained and released in connection with a car theft on Aug. 9, and his department had been following up to refer their cases as recently as Friday.

“The county attorney’s office could have taken at least two of these kids off the street 10 days ago prior to this happening, but for whatever reason, they didn’t,” O’Hara said on Monday.

When asked if MPD planned to refer the five kids in the stolen vehicle that was targeted in the shooting for an early intervention program, O’Hara said his department’s priority is “the other kids that shot.”

In their statement, Moriarty’s office said the auto theft intervention program was created specifically for when police do not have enough evidence to bring charges and that MPD has only referred four juveniles since April.

O’Hara rebuffed that claim as well, saying MPD regularly refers kids to community-based resources and the county attorney’s diversion programs.

In a statement, the Hennepin County Chiefs of Police Association, representing nearly three dozen law enforcement agencies, called finger-pointing unproductive.

The statement reads, in part:

“Families of these young people and our communities look to us as leaders to hold these juveniles accountable and keep our cities safe. We hope that the Hennepin County Attorney will work with law enforcement to hold criminals accountable, get youth the interventions they need, and work to prevent recidivism. Pointing fingers is unproductive and a disservice to our young people, our communities, and those who rightfully expect us to work together to solve these problems and prioritize the safety and well-being of our citizens.“