Two people were killed and a child was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries after the car they were was hit by a carjacking suspect being pursued by police early Thursday morning in north Minneapolis.
Minneapolis Police chief Brian O'Hara told reporters near the crash scene on Highway 55 near Penn Avenue North that the incident started around 8 a.m. Thursday when the suspect was seen driving recklessly near East Lake Street and Fourth Avenue South.
The suspect crashed and then carjacked a woman at gunpoint and fled the scene, firing gunshots from the vehicle.
"The suspect fled and returned to the scene to retrieve three dogs from the crashed vehicle," O'Hara said.
From there Minneapolis police were alerted that the drive inside the stolen vehicle was driving recklessly through downtown Minneapolis. Police spotted the vehicle just after 8:30 a.m. and initiated a pursuit which ended with the vehicle crashing into another vehicle, killing two adults and injuring a child.
"This is a very devastating incident with heartbreaking consequences for completely innocent people," O'Hara said. "Our officers worked very quickly, as best as they could, to get a violent individual off the street before anyone else could be harmed."
Three dogs were recovered from the stolen vehicle, one was euthanized while the other two were injured and turned over to animal control.
O'Hara was asked at the scene about the department's pursuit policy, saying MPD has been criticized recently about the smash-and-grabs and stolen cars which have impacted hundreds of Minneapolis residents.
"This result is why we have such stringent policies," he said. "We have to balance the need to apprehend, in this case a dangerous and violent gunman, with the risks these pursuits pose to the public. We limit our pursuits only to those cases where we believe an immediate apprehension is necessary to protect the community from a violent criminal and we don't necessarily know who that person is and can't wait to make an arrest at a later time."
The Minneapolis police squad car was clearly marked according to O'Hara, who said no officers were involved in the deadly crash.
Names of those involved have not been released. The suspect was arrested and taken to the hospital after suffering non-life threatening injuries.