Violent Minneapolis carjacking victim struggles in the aftermath: "My life could have been over"
MINNEAPOLIS — She was attacked, carjacked and concussed, and a woman said what's happened since then is just adding to her headache.
It was the end of October, around 5 p.m., and still light outside when Sophia Green said she parked near the intersection of West 39th Street and Bryant Avenue South in Minneapolis.
"The whole scenario maybe lasted a few seconds," Green said.
As she was walking to the door, she said two teenagers wearing ski masks and hoodies confronted her and demanded her keys. She said one of them had a gun pointed at her.
"When I started screaming for help, that's when the one with the gun hit me on the side of the head with the gun," Green said.
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The teenagers stole her Jeep Compass, and nearly her life too.
"In that moment, somebody was deciding that my life wasn't worth as much as a car," she said.
It's a thought that's stuck with her ever since as she works through the trauma of the experience.
"It's you against a gun. In a second my life could have been over," she said.
The violent carjacking left her with a concussion. A few weeks later, her ear drum ruptured too.
Minneapolis police said they recovered her Jeep and took it in for evidence processing. It remained in their possession for around a month. They say Green is now able to pick it up. The car the suspects used to carjack Green may have been used in another crime, police said.
"It makes it even more challenging to try to move on," she said.
Meanwhile, she said the rental car provided by her insurance company needs to be returned next week.
"Unfortunately, there's not just one person who helps guide you through this process," she said.
Her case is one of 277 carjackings so far this year in Minneapolis, which police say is down 43% from that time last year.
"It's not a number, it's the trauma someone has to carry with them for the rest of their life," she said.
Green said she hopes her story reaches the ears of elected leaders.
"Ultimately, they have a choice to choose to protect their people or continue to protect the people who are playing the hand of God by robbing people of their lives," she said.
