4 children shot riding in stolen car
Yes, that’s a real headline appearing in the newly rebranded Minnesota Star Tribune over the weekend.
And by children, we really mean children. The Star Tribune reports,
Four children in a stolen car between the ages of 11 and 13 suffered gunshot injuries early Sunday morning during a mass shooting in north Minneapolis.
The injured include a girl who was in critical but stable condition with a bullet wound to the head, according to comments early Sunday morning by Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
The event was shocking enough that all the local outlets reported on it. A survey of headlines:
Four children injured in Minneapolis shooting while riding in stolen car (startribune.com)
4 kids under 15 shot in Minneapolis | kare11.com
4 minors shot in Minneapolis while inside stolen Kia, 1 critically injured | FOX 9
MPD: 4 children shot overnight, believed to be in stolen car – KSTP.com 5
4 children in stolen vehicle shot in Minneapolis, police say – CBS 4 (cbsnews.com)
Here’s what we can piece together:
The car, a Kia, was stolen by the children. A fifth minor in the stolen car, aged 11, was unhurt.
At the time of the shooting (around 1 a.m.), the vehicle was in motion, near West Broadway and North Girard. The implication of this fact is one of the children was behind the wheel. Which one was driving is unclear.
Another vehicle approached and automatic gunfire was directed at the kids’ car.
The unharmed 11-year-old kid was returned to his parents. (Parents? They have parents?)
Two of the five children had been caught with a different stolen car within the past two weeks.
Given the ages of the children, no other identifying information is available.
What will happen now? Nothing. The Star Tribune explains,
Charges won’t be considered against any of the minors, the spokesman said, due to a state law saying children under the age of 14 are incapable of committing a crime.
The shooter has not been arrested.
KSTP reports that the law in question is Minnesota Statutes section 609.055 (“Capability of Children to Commit Crime”). The relevant section reads,
Subdivision 1. General rule.
Children under the age of 14 years are incapable of committing crime.
Obviously not. And there is no exception under law to the general rule. Perhaps this section of law could be revisited by the legislature.