Minneapolis car rampage driver: "Allah made me do it"
A man created havoc in north Minneapolis, ramming into at least eight cars and injuring a business owner, police said.
As Arie Ford went inside to gather her two children from her Minneapolis home Wednesday morning, a man stole her idling car.
A few blocks away, he repeatedly rammed that car into a cab driven by her brother and injured a well-known 79-year-old North Side clothes store owner. Within minutes, the man was at the intersection of N. 7th Street and Plymouth Avenue, bouncing off cars and between buildings, stealing a van and then crashing that, too, police said.
The five minutes of chaos ended when a group captured the man and held him down until police arrived.
Witness Jeffrey Ford said the suspect's father told officers the suspect had mental problems. "He could have hurt a lot of people," said Arie Ford, who isn't related to Jeffrey Ford.
Lois Schupmann, the business owner who was injured when the stolen car rammed the cab, was in satisfactory condition Wednesday evening.
Nobody else was hurt. When asked by investigators why he went on the crime spree, the 22-year-old suspect said, "Allah made me do it," according to a source with knowledge of the case. Police used a Taser to stun the suspect during his arrest, said Lt. Amelia Huffman.
He was taken to Hennepin County jail. Police and witnesses gave this account of the crimes, which damaged at least eight vehicles: The suspect lives about four blocks from where Arie Ford's car was taken. She had started her car about 8 a.m. and went inside her house to get her 1-year-old and 10-year-old children. Fifteen minutes after she reported it stolen, police told her they already had found the car. And it was totaled.
The man had driven a few blocks along Van White Memorial Boulevard and rear-ended a Blue & White cab. The man repeatedly backed up and rammed the cab, pushing it into a tree, said Jeffrey Ford.
The cabdriver got out and started yelling, "the man is crazy, the man is crazy," Jeffrey Ford said. Schupmann was either pulled out or fell out of the vehicle.
It's not clear why the man smashed into the cab, Huffman said. At N. 7th Street and Plymouth Avenue, Jon Huston, a printing company manager, said that he was in his second-floor office overlooking the intersection when he heard tires squealing below. Looking out, he saw a black car driving back and forth across N. 7th Street, at least six times, he said, clipping and hitting other vehicles and barrelling over the concrete median.
"He made his own road," Huston said. The stolen car struck a van carrying an 8-year-old boy to school. When the van's driver stepped out to check the damage, Huston said, the suspect steered toward the driver. "If he hadn't moved, he would've got hit," Huston said.
The suspect's car stalled after hitting the printing company building. Jeffrey Ford said the man approached the van and ordered the child out.
The suspect climbed into the empty van "and started to do more damage," Huston said, resuming his route across N. 7th Street. The incident ended with the van apparently getting stuck between a fire hydrant and a pine tree at the printing company, Cooperative Print Solutions, at 1225 N. 7th St.
Several people sat on the suspect until police arrived, Jeff Ford said. The man kicked his father to the ground as he tried to talk to police and the suspect was shocked with a Taser, Ford said.
The suspect later told police that he continually yelled, "Die, die, die, kill, kill, kill" during the incidents, said the source with knowledge of the investigation.
The suspect's family declined to comment.
Longtime businesswoman Schupmann, who owns Lila's dress store at 911 W. Broadway, declined to be interviewed.
Police Chief Tim Dolan is a friend and visited her at the hospital.
The store was opened 68 years ago by Schupmann's mother, Lila. When she died several years ago, Schupmann was determined to honor her memory by running the business, said neighbor Bob Ward.
Anita Lewis, a teller at Unbank Co. next to Lila's, has known Schupmann for 11 years. She was shocked to hear the woman was hurt in the crime spree. Schupmann takes a cab to and from work everyday, running the store by herself, Lewis said.
The store was dark Wednesday. "She always comes into our business to talk," Lewis said. "I was wondering why she didn't come in today."