A Minneapolis man who allegedly stole one vehicle and carjacked another while fleeing law enforcement is in jail after a lengthy pursuit through Brooklyn Center on Thursday night.
The suspect, Shawn Franklin Sunt, 27, was charged Friday in Hennepin County District Court with first-degree aggravated robbery and fleeing an officer in a vehicle.
Sunt was "driving erratically and dangerously" — including into oncoming traffic on a highway and nearly hitting a Hennepin County deputy's squad — until police were able to ram the carjacked vehicle into a snowbank and make an arrest, according to Brooklyn Center police.
Brooklyn Center officers were not part of the pursuit. It began at about 9:10 p.m. as the State Patrol was attempting to stop a vehicle reported stolen out of Minneapolis in the vicinity of Hwy. 252 and Interstate 694.
The patrol called off the pursuit when Sunt exited the highway onto city streets, but law enforcement from several agencies, including Brooklyn Center police, continued to track the stolen vehicle as it moved through the city, said Cmdr. Garett Flesland.
Dispatchers watching traffic cameras spotted the stolen Ford Focus near Brooklyn Boulevard and Lilac Drive. Troopers found the vehicle unoccupied at 50th Avenue and Lilac Drive. Minutes later, Sunt allegedly carjacked another vehicle parked near the intersection of North 48th Avenue and North Lilac Drive, according to the criminal complaint.
Sunt approached the vehicle and asked the driver if he "could get him out of the area," the complaint said. When the driver declined, Sunt pointed a gun at the man's head and threatened to kill him, the charges said. The driver exited the vehicle and Sunt got in and drove away, the charges said.
Brooklyn Center police, with help from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and Metro Transit police, set up a perimeter in the area, Flesland said.
Police followed Sunt to an apartment building in the 3500 block of 47th Avenue, where officers and deputies forced the vehicle he was driving into a snowbank. Police fired two rubber foam bullets at the driver's window when Sunt did not surrender for an extensive period of time, police said.
Sunt eventually surrendered and was taken to jail. Officers recovered a replica firearm in the backseat of the carjacked vehicle, police said.
"We are extremely fortunate that nobody was injured in this entire incident and are very thankful to have assisting agencies to help bring incidents like these to an end," police said.
Sunt was booked into the Hennepin County jail early Friday morning.
