Two Minneapolis women were killed, and a young Minneapolis boy was injured, when an armed man driving a stolen vehicle crashed into their vehicle Thursday morning in North Minneapolis.
Troy Mike Payton, 45, of St. Paul was arrested following the crash and taken to North Memorial for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. Payton was charged Thursday evening with three counts of causing great bodily harm while fleeing police and is due in court on Monday. Payton's also been formally charged with criminal vehicular homicide.
On Friday, federal charges including one count of carjacking and one count of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence were filed against Payton.
Marisa Casebolt, 25, and Liberty Borg, 25, of Minneapolis both died at the scene while a 6-year-old Minneapolis boy was taken to HCMC with non-life threatening injuries.
“Two young women should be alive today. Instead, their lives were cut short by a senseless crime committed by a career criminal,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. “They deserved better. We all deserve better. I am weary of this endless violence. Minnesota deserves peace. We will keep fighting to restore it.”
Minneapolis police said Thursday that the mayhem started around 8 a.m. on E. Lake Street with an armed carjacking. Payton allegedly crashed a vehicle he was driving recklessly in the area before attempting to carjack an individual who drove away.
Chief Brian O'Hara said Payton then targeted another victim and fled in a stolen Volkswagon Passat and fired shots from a handgun before driving recklessly into downtown Minneapolis.
Police tracked the vehicle to North Minneapolis and began chasing Payton, who t-boned a vehicle at Highway 55 and Penn Avenue.
"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."
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."