Suspect Sought After 2 Teens Shot In Carjacking

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The search is on for a man who shot two teenagers during a carjacking early Monday morning in Columbia Heights.

The shooter and a second person escaped in the teenagers' Jeep in Columbia Heights. The vehicle is white with Minnesota license plates AWF385.

"I heard the shots, and went over and looked out the window and saw the car drive around the corner and up the hill," said John Stromberg, who lives near the scene.

As police examined the remnants, neighbors relived the events.

Stromberg said his month-old baby was not the only one awake.

"Of course I'm still in the fog of parenting a newborn, so I was like, 'I'm not sure if I actually heard what I think I heard,' and as soon as I saw the police and ambulances I knew that was actually something that I saw," Stromberg said.

And it was something big.  Officers say a 17-year-old called 911 saying he had been shot. Officers arrived to find a 16-year-old boy was also shot. It happened on 42nd and Fillmore.

Wendy and Tom Lofy live right in front of the scene.

"This is a nice neighborhood, this is ridiculous – unbelievable," Wendy said.

Wendy and Tom Lofy watched the scene play out feet from their doorstep.

"Finally, ambulances came and there were many, many police cars and they worked on him 10, 15 minutes," Wendy said.

Officers say the victims were car-jacked and a stolen white jeep took off from the scene.

"It turned the corner very casually," Wendy said. "I mean, you didn't hear any screeching of tires or anything like that."

Now, some of the people who call this street home say they feel unsettled but not unsafe.

"It's kinda scary that it happened close to where we live, but at the same time with the people who live here and with our local police we don't feel more afraid than we normally do of any kind of crime," Stromberg said.

Officers say the teenagers who were shot live in Maple Grove and Brooklyn Center. It's not yet clear why they were in Columbia Heights.

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