A 20-year-old Brooklyn Park woman is facing a stack of felony charges in connection with a May 16 shooting in south Minneapolis that left a man wounded and ended when a suspect vehicle slammed into a marked Minneapolis police squad car. Prosecutors say they moved forward late last week after investigators pored over surveillance video, cellphone location data and evidence pulled from the car, including what they allege was a Glock equipped with an auto-sear, a device that can allow a semi-automatic pistol to fire continuously.
According to a criminal complaint, as reported by Limitless Media News, Hennepin County prosecutors have charged Angela Arroyo Hernandez, 20, of Brooklyn Park, with attempted second-degree intentional murder, drive-by shooting, possession of a machine-gun conversion device, and criminal vehicular operation resulting in bodily harm. The complaint lays out the basis for the felony counts. All charges are allegations, and Hernandez is presumed innocent unless and until she is proven guilty in court.
Conversion devices, often called "Glock switches" or auto-sears, have turned up more frequently at crime scenes across the country in recent years, creating new headaches for investigators and prosecutors. The ATF's National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment notes rising recoveries of machine-gun conversion devices and says law enforcement agencies are expanding training so officers can spot and trace the parts and the weapons they are attached to. The ATF report highlights those trends and the national response.
What Investigators Say Happened
The criminal complaint, as described by Limitless Media News, says Minneapolis officers were on routine patrol near East 33rd Street and Park Avenue South shortly after 1 a.m. on May 16 when they heard gunfire and received a ShotSpotter alert. They then went to the 3200 block of 5th Avenue South, where they found a man suffering from at least two gunshot wounds to the chest.
Surveillance video allegedly showed a black Infiniti arriving in the area minutes earlier. Four males were seen getting out of the car and handling handguns while Hernandez appeared to record them on her cellphone, according to prosecutors. The group reportedly left, the Infiniti came back and more shots were fired. When officers later tried to pull the car over, it collided with a marked police squad and the occupants ran off on foot. Investigators say they recovered spent shell casings, live rounds and documents belonging to Hernandez from the vehicle.
Legal Fallout
Minnesota law defines murder and drive-by shooting offenses that make attempted intentional murder and related counts felonies that carry potentially lengthy prison sentences, and prosecutors must prove every element of each charge in court. The state murder statute is set out at Minnesota Statutes § 609.19. State law also bans possession of "machine-gun conversion kits" and trigger activators, and under federal law conversion devices are treated as machineguns under the National Firearms Act, which can bring severe penalties for unlawful possession or use. For a summary of Minnesota rules on conversion devices, see the Giffords Law Center.
Hernandez remains in custody while investigators continue to look into the identities and roles of the males allegedly riding in the Infiniti, and prosecutors say cellphone location data and surveillance footage are key parts of their probable-cause case. Upcoming court filings will shape the next steps in Hennepin County District Court, including any scheduled hearings.
The arrest lands in the middle of a broader push by state and local officials to crack down on conversion devices after a sharp rise in their recovery at crime scenes, a trend Stateline documented last year using federal trace data. Lawmakers and prosecutors across the country have pointed to how dramatically these devices can increase a handgun's rate of fire when arguing for tougher enforcement and penalties.
The Hennepin County case will be tracked through public court records as it moves forward, and investigators say they are still pursuing leads on the other people allegedly involved. Anyone with information related to the incident is asked to contact Minneapolis police detectives handling the case.
