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Crime, Law and Justice
Matt Sepic
Minneapolis

2 teens charged with launching fireworks at police

A police officer speaks
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara speaks to reporters at a City Hall news conference on Wednesday.
Matt Sepic | MPR News

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Hennepin County prosecutors on Thursday charged two teens with shooting fireworks at police during a night of chaos in multiple locations across Minneapolis over the Fourth of July holiday where large groups of youth aimed fireworks at each other, passersby and vehicles.

Authorities say the trouble started when 40 to 50 young people gathered at Boom Island Park around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

When police arrived in a squad car and activated their lights and sirens, the mob took aim at the vehicle with mortar pyrotechnics and Roman candles.

Some exploded near the squad’s passenger's side window just after an officer rolled it up.

A 17-year-old boy from Columbia Heights is charged with fleeing police and felony assault in that incident. A judge ordered that he remain in juvenile detention.

According to the juvenile petition, the officers kept the teen in their sights, ran after him, and arrested him in the park’s main parking lot.

MPR News is not naming the teen because he’s charged as a juvenile. Prosecutors have yet to indicate if they plan to seek adult charges.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office also charged Zamir Abdulkadir Yassin of Minneapolis with felony rioting for allegedly launching a barrage of Roman candles at another squad car around the same time Tuesday night near Bde Maka Ska Parkway and 36th Street.

Yassin, 18, was jailed Thursday evening and is scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday afternoon.

Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a Wednesday afternoon news conference that police arrested 11 juveniles and five adults in connection with the fireworks incidents.