A section of south Minneapolis just south of Lake Street has experienced at least 17 robberies in the first three weeks of August, with most of the crimes committed by armed perpetrators who remain on the loose, authorities said.
The rash of crimes has largely occurred from east of Interstate 35W to Hiawatha Avenue and from East Lake Street south to 38th Street, according to police, with most occurring north of 34th Street.
In all but one holdup, the robbers have struck in groups of two, three or four, police added. The perpetrators have either brandished a knife or a gun, or said they were armed.
In the most recent case, according to police, a gunman and an accomplice confronted a woman parked in front of her house on the 3200 block of 15th Avenue S. about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The woman, Blanca Beatriz Avila Rivas, had her 19-month-old daughter in the back seat and was preparing to drive to a relative's house when two men in their early 20s suddenly came up and started pounding on a door, one of them holding a gun.
One of the men broke through the passenger side window, and Avila Rivas immediately reached for her daughter, screaming "my baby, my baby," she said. Clutching her daughter, she was shoved out of the 2007 Nissan Murano before the men drove off in her SUV.
"I'm scared," she said Thursday. "Last night I couldn't sleep. I think they will come back."
She has lived in her house for more than two years and has never had any problems with crime. Since her car was robbed, Avila Rivas and her husband haven't been able to go to work, she said.
