MINNEAPOLIS — Eighteen people ranging from 15 to 27 years old are charged after two violent robberies were captured on surveillance video in downtown Minneapolis in August, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.
Only one person, 25-year-old Adrian Cooper of Brooklyn Center, has been charged in both of the incidents, according authorities.
All of those arrested were charged with one count, or a combination of charges that include attempted first-degree robbery, first-degree robbery, aiding and abetting first-degree robbery and third-degree riot. All of these charges except riot are felonies, according to officials.
The first incident occurred the morning of Aug. 3. Minneapolis Police received footage of an attempted robbery outside of Target Field. The video showed around a dozen people trying to steal a man's phone, beating him, and ripping off his shoes and pants as they went through his pockets, according to criminal complaints and juvenile petitions.
The victim was then jumped on, hit with plant pots and run over by a bicycle, police said.
By the last week of August, police said they had worked to identify those responsible and had received partial confessions from many of those questioned, according to the complaint.
Police were also able to identify the victim and speak with him.
The second incident occurred in the early morning hours of Aug. 17 near 5th Street and Hennepin Avenue.
The victim told police he was with friends in a downtown bar but after he left, he was standing on the corner using his phone when a group surrounded him and tried to take his wallet.
The suspects beat the victim unconscious, and he was later diagnosed with a concussion, prosecutors say. The men stole his cellphone, wallet, keys and $100 in cash. His bank notified him that suspects used his debit card to withdraw $220 from an ATM, according to the complaint.
Four of the suspects in the two robberies were 15 years old, which means their names and charges are not public.
In each of the robberies a suspect was arrested but not charged, according to the attorney's office.
