3 Teens Charged In Twin Cities Carjacking Incidents

ST. LOUIS PARK, MN — Two teenagers have been charged in connection with recent carjacking incidents in St. Louis Park and Edina, according to a news release from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.

Two teenagers each face five counts of first-degree aggravated robbery charges, according to the news release. They were involved in the separate but related carjacking incidents, officials said.

A third teen has been charged with two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery for his role in the St. Louis Park carjacking incident, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.

Police were dispatched to a grocery store in St. Louis Park on Dec. 9 on a report of a robbery, according to the news release. A man told police that he was sitting in his SUV in the parking lot when the first two teens tried to pull him out of his car, officials said.

The two teens punched the man repeatedly while threatening him with a drill that they were pretending was a gun, according to police. A witness said he saw the teens hit the man with the drill, officials said.

A second man went over after seeing the commotion and told the two teens to calm down, according to the news release. One of the boys began fighting with him before both teenagers fled in a second stolen SUV that was driven by the third teenager, police said.

In Edina at 5 p.m. the same day, the same SUV pulled into the parking lot of another grocery store, the news release said. The SUV parked next to a woman sitting in her car and the first two teenagers got into her car-one in the front and one in the back, police said.

They began to punch the woman and tried to push her out of her car while her seatbelt was still buckled, according to officials. The woman began honking her horn to alert others in the parking lot, and two men ran over to pull the teens out of the car, police said. According to the news release, one of the men was bitten by one of the teenagers during the scuffle.

One of the teenagers tried to drive the woman's car away, hitting one of the men in the head with an open car door and ran over his legs, officials said. The woman was still tangled in her seat belt and was dragged through the parking lot while the teen drove her car, according to the news release.

A witness who has a permit to carry a firearm pulled out his gun trying to intervene and the two teens ran away, police said.

A stolen SUV driven by the third teen in the St. Louis carjacking and by the first two teens in the Edina carjacking was found outside one of the teen's homes and was towed and processed for evidence, police said.

When the first two teens were arrested, a search warrant resulted in officers finding the clothes the boys wore on surveillance video of the carjacking incidents, the news release said.