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17-year-old identified by family as victim caught in Minneapolis street racing crossfire

Nicholas Enger's mother said he pulled over briefly to watch street racing this weekend, identifying him as the person killed by a stray bullet on East Lake Street.

MINNEAPOLIS — Nicholas Enger loved anything with a motor.

Especially cars.

“Oh, it was his passion,” close friend Ava Frederickson said. “I spent most of my time under the hood with him, too.”

Frederickson said that’s why Nicholas, a 17-year-old from Cambridge, Minnesota, stopped his own car early Sunday morning to watch people street racing on East Lake Street near Hiawatha in Minneapolis. According to police, people were “driving recklessly and spinning around in their cars causing damage to the roadway” when two of the drivers got into a dispute and bullets started flying.

Pending an official release from the medical examiner, family and friends identified Nicholas on Monday as the person caught in the crossfire.

He was the second person killed in Minneapolis this weekend while watching street racing activities.

“He had gotten out of the car, to see what was going on, and… just wrong place, wrong time. It should have never happened,” Frederickson said. “I can’t even express my anger.”

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Enger’s mother, Amanda Bolz, said her son just recently obtained his driver’s license.  

“He was a good kid. He wasn’t out to cause trouble or find trouble. He was attracted to the cars and stopped for a minute. He didn’t deserve what happened to him,” Bolz said. “This has been horrible. I don’t know how my life will ever be the same. It won’t be. I lost my son; he lost all his hopes and dreams and he had a lot of them. He had his whole life ahead of him. We’re just trying to make it through each minute at a time right now.”

Bolz also said that Nicholas wanted to make a career out his passion for cars. His school district in Cambridge-Isanti provided a statement from a teacher who said he “brightened up the classroom when he entered with his outgoing positive personality and his wonderful sense of humor.”

His visitation and funeral will be held this Friday and Saturday. 

“He was loved by so many,” Bolz said. “He had a large family that loved him dearly. He had friends that loved him. A whole community is feeling this loss right now – not just his family.”

Police have not publicly identified any suspects in the shooting that claimed Nicholas Enger's life. 

“I know he would want people to be celebrating him,” Frederickson said, “and remember him by the good. Because that’s really what he was. A good person. A good man. Seventeen or not, he was a man. He was good. He was awesome.”

RELATED: Minneapolis police investigating several fatal overnight shootings

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