Police, residents speak out about string of home invasions in Minneapolis

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has learned, and the Minneapolis Police Department has confirmed, there have been six cases of home invasions where suspects have entered houses carrying guns, threatening homeowners and demanding things such as car keys, money, cell phones and computers.

Homeowner Julie Wicklund told KSTP she had just pulled her car into her garage, walked into her kitchen with her 14-year-old daughter and within minutes a man entered the home and pointed a gun at the two victims demanding car keys and Wicklund’s purse.

“It was terrifying, completely terrifying and it still is, because this is happening in our neighborhood,” said Wicklund. “I mean when I first walked in he was pointing the gun at us and said ‘give me your keys and don’t look at me’ and then he left.”

Wicklund said there were other home invasions, with people in the homes, in her neighborhood during the past two weeks. She has chosen to speak out because she wants accountability for the robbers and city leaders.

“It is horrific and an awful thing that happened to us, but I definitely want to draw attention to it so something gets done,” said Wicklund. “Obviously, there has been a surge in our neighborhood and there was a home robbery the next night after ours and we want to know if these things are connected.”

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has learned that there has also been one unsuccessful home invasion attempt, at gunpoint, in addition to the six cases where the suspects actually made it inside the homes carrying weapons.

MPD did confirm that two of these crimes happened in the Lowry Hill Neighborhood not far from the Walker Art Center, two in the Northrop Neighborhood near Lake Nokomis, two in the Lynnhurst Neighborhood just blocks away from Lake Harriet and one in the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood close to the University of Minnesota.

Fifth Precinct Inspector Katie Blackwell told KSTP this is the highest number of home invasions in a short time span that she has seen in her 21 years working for the MPD.

“We are seeing this new crime pattern and we do have extra patrols in some of the areas where we think these groups of suspects are operating,” said Blackwell. “They are trolling the neighborhoods and they’re watching their victims to see if they are by themselves or if they’re preoccupied and so you should pull into your garage, shut the door, then exit your vehicle and then go into your house.”

Blackwell said the public needs to remain hyper-vigilant, and of course, call 911 if anything seems out of place where they live.

“I think people know their neighborhoods better than anyone else,” said Blackwell. “And, we need the public’s help right now to sort of be the eyes and ears out there to help us.”

So far, Blackwell said there have not been any arrests in this series of armed home invasions.