MINNEAPOLIS — The video captured on a doorbell camera across the street is jarring and raw, as a 21-year-old University of Minnesota student — facing a gun pointed at her head — doesn't give up without a fight.
Two attackers kick her and wrench her backpack from her grasp, grabbing her cell phone and running away before fleeing in three vehicles, which police say were stolen.
This attack in broad daylight happened at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in Dinkytown near 11th Avenue and 7th Street Southeast.
Just an hour earlier, a similar attack at gunpoint happened to a 23-year-old woman just blocks away.
And 24 hours later, at 14th Avenue and 8th Street, a 22-year-old woman had her purse torn away.
"She seemed definitely shaken up," said the woman's friend, Claire Binnicker.
Binnicker said it's affected their whole friend group.
"After this incident happened we were all saying we need to buy tasers now, we need pepper spray and stuff like that. We're definitely on high alert now," Binnicker said.
According to Minneapolis police, the same group is suspected in eight different robberies and attempted carjackings throughout the city on Sunday alone. A U of M spokesperson says the U of M Police Department is partnering with the Minneapolis Police Department to have extra officers in Dinkytown this weekend.
"I think that Dinkytown police and the U of M has a huge responsibility in this and needs to do more," Binnicker said.
The crime victims all avoided serious physical injury, but are each dealing with the psychological effects in their own ways on the last week of classes before finals.
No one has been arrested yet. Police say the suspects were consistently described as juvenile males wearing masks.
Other than the crimes near the U, they are also suspected in robberies, car thefts and attempted carjackings in south and northeast Minneapolis.
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