Speaking at the scene where four kids between 11 and 14 were shot by automatic gunfire, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara addressed what officers are seeing when it comes to the trend of stealing Kias and Hyundais.
"While there are fewer cars being stolen, again, the cars that are being stolen here, particularly among juveniles, are connected to more and more serious crimes," O'Hara said. "And that's across the board — robberies, assaults, you name it,"
O'Hara says the shooting victims — two boys and two girls, including one shot in the head — were in a stolen Kia, which is being investigated, too.
Not much is known publicly about the shooters, except that they were driving a dark car. But police say knew some of the victims.
"Two of the five juveniles involved in this incident tonight were arrested not even two weeks ago for being in a stolen car," O'Hara said.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement that MPD has not referred any one of the children involved in the incident for charging consideration nor for her Youth Auto Theft Early Intervention Initiative.
In Minnesota, children as young as 10 can be charged in juvenile court through a juvenile delinquency petition. However, the state legislature recently approved moving that age up to 13 starting in August 2026, and Moriarty's office has already begun that practice in most instances.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Moriarty wrote, "Children under the age of 13 are consistently found to be not competent to proceed in delinquency proceedings, which delays and negatively impacts access to critically needed services and supports. This systemic issue led to a recent legislative change that will raise the lower age of juvenile court delinquency jurisdiction to 13 beginning August 1, 2026. As we move to implement more effective interventions that can address youth behavior concerns in the context of the broader family, we have shifted our practices to implement a social service response for young children whenever possible. Charging a child under the age of 13 is rare and requires management approval. And although we have used this tool when needed, every child under 13 that we have charged has subsequently been found incompetent to proceed by the court, ultimately leading to a delayed referral to social service interventions."
O'Hara held a press conference Monday evening calling out Moriarty's office, saying they county attorney's office is "playing a dangerous game with these kids' lives."
During the press conference, O'Hara said the MPD's juvenile investigators referred two of the cases to the county attorney's office for felony charges on Aug. 9.
"The kids weren't charged. They weren't diverted. Despite pleas from their parents begging for help, begging for them to be detained, they were let back out into the street into the same environment to commit more crimes," said O'Hara. "We've had several of the parents involved with these kids in the shooting this weekend asking us to arrest their kids — begging us to detain them because they can't control them and they're afraid they're going to get killed."