Ring camera captures Dinkytown assault of female student

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A Ring security camera captured a violent encounter on Sunday afternoon, when two armed robbers pounced on a University of Minnesota student.

The suspects brought the woman to the ground and stole her phone, in the 1200 block of 8th Street Southeast, around 4 p.m.

"I could not listen to it with the sound on, because that hurt my soul," neighbor Anna MacIntyre told FOX 9 of the video.

Her roommate Samanatha was targeted and left with bruises after a situation that they say is not shocking for their neighborhood.

"I’ve had issues, I’ve always been very worried about that kind of thing here," MacIntyre told FOX 9.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara acknowledges the problem of robbery sprees committed by groups of adolescent criminals in stolen Kias and Hyundais.

He says his department is doing everything it can to prevent the crime and hold people accountable.

"It’s terrible to see videos like this," Chief O’Hara said. "This past weekend was bad. We had almost as many cars stolen this weekend, as we did [in] all of last week. I think 90 vehicles were stolen this weekend, 70 of them were Kias and Hyundai’s, and several of those stolen cars were involved in these incidents."

Sunday’s robbery was just one of eight robberies and auto thefts between 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Minneapolis Police investigators believe the crimes are connected, and the suspects are likely underage.

Now, O’Hara says his department plans to meet with leaders from the University of Minnesota Police Department to discuss plans for the summer.

The University of Minnesota did not provide a spokesperson for an interview on Monday.

Instead, the school sent a statement that says in part: "In the immediate future, UMPD is partnering with MPD to have extra officers in the Dinkytown area this coming weekend. All of our Department of Public Safety light and camera trailers are currently in-use in the Dinkytown area as well. The university is also actively following up on last weekend’s incidents to provide support resources for the victims."