From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (which is a contender for the iSteve Content Generator of the Year award):

‘Staggering’ surge in violent carjackings continues across Minneapolis

A triple-digit percentage increase over this time last year has residents in fear.
By Liz Sawyer Star Tribune DECEMBER 1, 2020 — 7:42PM

A housekeeper arriving early to her shift in south Minneapolis was confronted by two hooded teenagers outside her driver’s side window.

One pointed a gun at her head, demanding that she get out, before firing three shots: two ricocheted off the window and a third struck her side-view mirror.

Panicked, the teens fled in the stolen car they arrived in, the latest in a series of brazen attempted armed robberies and carjackings in a wave that is stretching across the city. Minneapolis residents are grappling with triple-digit percentage increase in these crimes, and incidents occurring at all hours, including broad daylight.

“She was completely traumatized,” said her employer, Kathy Higgins Victor, said of the Nov. 27 incident. “It’s just so bold.”

Over the past two months, Minneapolis police have logged more than 125 carjackings in the city, a troubling surge that authorities had largely linked to small groups of marauding teens. But an increasing number of adults have been arrested in recent weeks for committing the same crime.

Within a one-hour period Saturday morning, police reported three separate carjackings in southeast Minneapolis, including one where an elderly woman was struck on the head. The often brazen, daytime attacks are up 537% this month when compared with last November.

A 537% increase here, a 537% increase there, pretty soon you are talking about real numbers…

Police say suspects tend to approach victims on the street, sidewalk or parking lot — often while they’re distracted with routine tasks. A significant number of armed stickups have targeted seniors and unaccompanied women at their vehicles on Minneapolis’ South Side.

I believe the South Side is the nice side of Minneapolis.

MPD didn’t specifically track this type of crime until Sept. 22 because they were so infrequent. Previous cases fell under the larger umbrella of robberies and auto theft. The agency created a new coding system after the summer months yielded an unusually high number of attacks.

A retroactive count by analysts determined that Minneapolis has seen at least 375 carjackings this year — including 17 last week. That overall tally is more than three times higher than 2019.

“These suspects have been known to ask for directions, then rob the victim of a purse, phone or car,” read an MPD crime alert issued last month in the Third Precinct. It advised residents to be aware of their surroundings and carry only essentials. …

The spree comes amid a nearly unprecedented spike in violent crime, particularly shootings, since the May 25 killing of George Floyd in police custody and the civil unrest that followed.

In November, the toll of people shot this year surpassed 500 in Minneapolis, the most in 15 years. Seventy-nine homicides is highest count since the mid-1990s era when the city earned the grim moniker of “Murderapolis.”