Minneapolis carjacking victim not letting crime slow her efforts to better community

Days after a Minneapolis woman was carjacked at gunpoint, she was back in the community sharing free meals for those in need.

“I want us to feel secure [and] not afraid to be out in our community doing things like we’re doing now,” Vanessa Flynn told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS as she handed out free meals with help from their church in the Cub Northside parking lot, Saturday.

A few days before, on Thursday, within seconds of pulling into her garage from work Flynn was surrounded by five people, one of them with a gun — at that point, Flynn became the next carjacking victim in Minneapolis.

“I said, whatever you do, please don’t shoot me. I told him I have children, don’t shoot me,” Flynn said about the carjacking.

“One of the gentlemen that had the gun pointed to me, he said, ‘I’m not going to shoot you,’ but I just kept pleading for my life,” Flynn added.

Minneapolis police say it happened around 6:15 p.m., near the 4000 block of Clinton Avenue, in the Bryant neighborhood.

The carjacking happened the day before a joint meeting with local, state and federal law enforcement officials to share how their partnership to curb violent crime has been going.

RELATED: Local, federal officials arrest 25 violent criminals in Twin Cities, Rochester operations

During the update, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger highlighted two operations conducted Thursday that resulted in 25 arrests and the seizure of dozens of guns.

One of the operations in Minneapolis and St. Paul ended with 15 violent criminals being arrested and 32 illegal guns seized, according to Luger.

Minneapolis police have not reported any arrests in Flynn’s case.

Also Friday, the Executive Office for United States Attorneys released two videos highlighting how serious the violent crime has become and the concern with the militarized weapons that are being used.

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