St. Paul police have arrested an adult and a juvenile in connectionwith a series of random attacks in Minneapolis and St. Paul that wererecorded on video and posted on YouTube.
A 19-year-old was booked into the Ramsey County jail, and a17-year-old was taken to a juvenile detention center. Both were bookedTuesday on suspicion of strong-arm robbery and aggravated assault,according to St. Paul police reports.
St. Paul Police Sgt. Paul Schnell said police were searching for twoothers who were recorded on camera participating in the assaults, whilethe remaining others — at least four — would be considered persons ofinterest.
“From what we have seen in the footage, there were only four peoplethat we can connect with possible criminal activity in the city of St.Paul that were clearly and directly involved in the planning and/orexecution of these attacks,” Schnell said.
He said that a handful of victims have come forward, and about fourreports were filed as of late Wednesday afternoon. One victim toldpolice he was tackled from behind by an unknown male at 6 p.m. Saturdaywhile walking east on Grand Avenue near Avon Street in St. Paul.”Assault was probably posted on YouTube,” the police report said.
The investigation and arrests followed the Monday posting of aYouTube video featuring eight young males terrorizing bicyclists andpedestrians — including children and older people — in what appearedto be Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Edited and set to music, the video shows the group of what appear tobe teenagers or young men taking turns saying, “Watch this,” beforeknocking down victims and running away, laughing. The video was removedby midday Tuesday.
The video made its way around several online message boards and wassoon e-mailed to police and media. The perpetrators prominently showedtheir faces and gave what were purported to be their real names andnicknames.