MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Two alleged carjackers were arrested and charged after the victim found the stolen vehicle by tracking her airpods, which had been left in the car.
Justin Lee Brun, 19, and Daniel Maloney, 20, both face two counts of aggravated first-degree robbery in connection to the Tuesday evening incident in south Minneapolis. Brun faces an additional charge of burglary while entering a dwelling without consent.
The criminal complaint says police were called to the 3100 block of Chicago Avenue South shortly before 8 p.m. There, a woman said she had been sitting on the passenger side of her boyfriend’s car, waiting for him to get a haircut, when the car was surrounded by approximately four to six people.
The woman said she saw two men on the driver’s side and passenger’s side holding handguns. They told her to hand over the keys.
The woman’s boyfriend had the key fob, the complaint states, so she led them a few houses down to her boyfriend. She said she could feel the gun pressed against her head.
Documents say the boyfriend came out of the garage of a house and was ordered on the ground. He handed over the keys, and the two said they heard a loud “boom,” like a gunshot, as the suspects left the area in the boyfriend’s car.
The woman then tracked a pair of airpods which she had left in the car, the complaint says. At 8:10 p.m., officers found the car near 29th Avenue South and after a short pursuit, the car stopped near 26th Avenue and Cedar Avenue South.
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Two people fled, but Maloney was sitting in the back seat. There was a rifle with the barrel sawed off on the passenger side floor.
The complaint says that officers then found discarded clothing nearby, and with the help of a K-9 officer, were led to a home on the 2500 block of 17th Avenue. Two people were called to come out of the home – one of whom was identified as Brun. The other is a juvenile, documents say.
The suspects were taken into custody. The maximum sentence for aggravated robbery is 20 years in prison, if the suspects are convicted.
