Violent crime drops 13 percent
By now, most Minneapolis residents have heard the good news. Crime statistics published by the City show that the incidence of most types of crime, and in particular violent crime, dropped dramatically last year—a 13 percent drop overall, down by 4 percent in the 3rd Precinct.
The 47 homicides that occurred last year marks an 18 percent decrease citywide from 2006, and a 36 percent drop in the 3rd Precinct. Robberies were down by 17 percent in the city and aggravated assaults fell by 10 percent. Minneapolis Police say 860 weapons were recovered in 2006, 197 guns from the 3rd Precinct alone.
Total property crime was lower by 1 percent, even though there were 5 percent more reported burglaries and 5 percent less burglary arrests made.
Yet the City acknowledges that violent crime is still a problem in many areas of the city, including the 3rd Precinct. During the last week of December, city police responding to a shooting on the 2800 block of 17th Ave. S. entered a rear second floor bedroom and found a man who’d been shot in the chest holding a revolver to his head.
The man’s mother stood between him and the officers and pleaded for him to drop the weapon. The wounded man was reported as shouting that he would not go to jail, and then shot himself in the head. His injured mother was taken to HCMC with non-life threatening injuries.
Also during the last week of 2007, 3rd Precinct Police made several arrests in connection with robberies and narcotics. At 38th and Portland Avenue South, officers patrolling central neighborhoods for possible robbery suspects observed three juveniles, all under the age of 15, knocking a victim to the ground and punching him while going through his pockets. Police say that although the victim sustained serious facial injuries, he was able to provide an excellent statement. The three were arrested and charged with aggravated robbery.
Two arrests were made at 34th and Dupont Avenue South after a robbery at gunpoint and fleeing on foot. One of the suspects matching the victim’s description was spotted in a car, which had been reported as involved in a robbery the day before. The juvenile who was pulled over confessed to the crime and also admitted to being a “Sureno 13” gang member. The second suspect was found on foot nearby; and both suspects were arrested and charged with aggravated assault and robbery.
The victim of a robbery by a juvenile on the 1500 block of East Lake Street reported the crime two days after it occurred and police are looking at surveillance video for suspect information.
Between Dec. 25 and Jan. 7, police K9 officers made three arrests during the recovery of a stolen car and took a suspected robber into custody in the 3rd Precinct. The robbery victim later positively identified that suspect.
The second and third weeks of January saw a number of other robberies in the 3rd Precinct. A purse snatched from a 13-year-old at a bus stop was recovered by a nearby fast food restaurant employee who witnessed the robbery and pursued the suspects. He is to be nominated for a police Citizen’s Award of Valor.
An arrest was made after a police dog bit a burglary suspect that it discovered lying between a garage and a stored RV at the rear of a residence on the 2300 block of 25th Avenue South. One man, who was confronted by an armed robber on the front steps of his house on the 4300 block of Elliot Avenue South and then ordered to go inside, reportedly told his assailant, “Only over my [dead] body.” The suspect is said to have backed down and fled with two other suspects who were standing on the sidewalk. The three were all found and detained after the man called police and the gun was recovered nearby.
Special Operations Division officers on a robbery detail in the 3rd Precinct chased a vehicle that sped away after an attempted stop. At the end of the chase, the suspect car crashed and its occupants fled on foot. Both driver and passenger were arrested after a short pursuit on foot.
A robbery victim who had $125 taken from him on the 300 block of East Lake Street got into his car and followed his assailants, telling police later that he could identify the suspects as Sureno 13 gang members. The suspects are said to be one male and one female who displayed a knife and a baseball bat.
Police responded to shots fired near 36th and Chicago Avenue South during the third week of January and found a car that had been struck and a street sign with several bullet holes. Officers located the wounded driver , who described the shooter as an 18-year-old man driving an older brown Chevy.
Twenty-three-year-old Jwan Johnson was arrested for aggravated robbery/carjacking after two motorists were robbed at gunpoint near 22nd and Elliot. Johnson allegedly took their car and then committed two more robberies, one on the 3000 block of Cedar Avenue and another on the 3000 block of 37th Avenue South. Afterward, Johnson allegedly drove to St. Paul where he committed three additional armed robberies and was captured when St. Paul officers pursued him and witnessed him throwing a revolver from his speeding vehicle before crashing into two cars.
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