Four children injured in Minneapolis shooting in stolen car

Four children between the ages of 11 and 14 suffered gunshot wounds in a mass shooting in north Minneapolis early Sunday morning.

Among the victims was a girl in critical but stable condition with a gunshot wound to the head, said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara.

O'Hara called the incident “outrageous” and said it shows why more needs to be done to prevent car thefts by teenagers, as more minors joyriding in stolen cars are becoming involved in more serious crimes.

“We are failing these children,” the police chief said in a video that Minneapolis police posted on social media.

O'Hara said preliminary investigations indicate the minors were traveling in a stolen Kia near the intersection of W. Broadway and N. Girard Avenue when a dark-colored sedan began chasing them and firing at them with a fully automatic weapon. Police recovered about 30 shell casings at the scene, he said, although more shots may have been fired.

Two boys and a girl injured in the incident suffered gunshot wounds that are not life-threatening, O'Hara said. A fifth minor in the vehicle was unharmed.

The police chief said the incident was the latest indication that young car thieves were becoming more brazen and were also becoming involved in other serious crimes, while thefts of Kias and Hyundais had fallen by a quarter.

“There were more aggravated assaults, more robberies, more hit-and-runs, more serious crimes being committed more frequently by the people involved in the thefts of these cars…” O'Hara said. “A car chasing another car, with fully automatic gunfire… that just shows really brazen, callous behavior.”