5 girls arrested after Brooklyn Park Target theft, assault, police chase in stolen car
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. – They aren't your usual suspects. Police say a group of girls, as young as 12, led them on a car chase in Brooklyn Park.
Police were called to the Target store on West Broadway Avenue when loss prevention officers inside saw a group of young girls shoplifting.
"They located a suspect vehicle that loss prevention had provided us information on, and when the officers got in the area they found the vehicle, they ran the license plate, they found out the vehicle was actually stolen. And when the officers tried to stop it, the vehicle fled," said Cmdr. Elliott Faust.
The stolen car sped down West Broadway. Officers stopped their pursuit and the car eventually collided into another vehicle near Candlewood Drive.
"We heard a bang. So my daughter got up and she said, 'Mom, there are kids running.' So I got up and we look outside, then we saw the accident with the car being smashed," a witness told WCCO.
Witnesses say they saw five young girls get out of the stolen vehicle and make a run for it. Police had to use their K-9 to track the girls down.
"We did locate all five of them. So the ages of the suspects are two of them were 12 years old, two were 13 and one was 14 years old," Faust said.
He says his officers are seeing more young people committing serious crimes.
"This is a felony crime. Fleeing from police is a felony, possession of a stolen car is a felony, but it's not typically one that the juvenile supervision will hold them for," Faust said. "So the only options that we have at that time is to take them home."
He and his investigators are now working to make sure this group of girls are held accountable.
"There's a lot of loose ends that we have to tie up here, getting video, figuring exactly who stole what, who was actually in possession of the stolen vehicle. But when we get all that sorted out, we will be pursuing charges through the Hennepin County juvenile court system," he said.
Police say the stolen car had been spotted outside a middle school, where the group planned to fight other girls earlier that day.