Man admits to back-to-back carjackings in Twin Cities suburbs, stabbing victim who fought back

A 31-year-old man has pleaded guilty to back-to-back carjackings on the same day in two Minneapolis suburbs, and to stabbing and wounding one of his victims before his arrest while running from police.

Nathan Mathias Sughroue, of Indianola, Neb., admitted in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis to one count of carjacking and one count of carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury in connection with the crimes on June 16, first in Shakopee and soon afterward in Bloomington.

Sentencing for Sughroue has yet to be scheduled.

For the same incidents, Sughroue remains charged in Hennepin County District Court with attempted first-degree attempted murder and first-degree carjacking. A hearing regarding those charges is scheduled for March 26.

According to the Hennepin County criminal complaint:

Police were sent shortly after 1 p.m. to a gas station on W. 98th Street in Bloomington about two men fighting outside a car. Officers spoke to one of the men, who was sitting in a Hyundai sedan. The officers learned the Hyundai had been carjacked at knifepoint about 90 minutes earlier in Shakopee.

The wounded man in Bloomington told police he was getting gas for his vehicle, a Nissan SUV, when the Hyundai pulled in front of him. That driver, later identified as Sughroue, approached the SUV owner and demanded the keys. Sughroue got in the front passenger seat of the SUV, and the two started fighting.

Sughroue got in the driver’s seat of the SUV and pulled away from the gas pump with the “victim still partially inside,” the charges said.

As the SUV moved, the victim was either pushed or fell to the pavement. Sughroue drove off. The victim said Sughroue appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Medical personnel at HCMC found the SUV driver had a stab wounds to his abdomen, chest, liver and stomach.

Officers searched the Hyundai that was carjacked at knifepoint from a woman near a Caribou coffeeshop on Heather Street in Shakopee, and they found Sughroue’s photo identification on the front passenger seat.

Two people at the scene in Shakopee told law enforcement they were taking Sughroue to treatment for a need not specified in the charges, when they lost track of him.

Soon afterward, a Shakopee police officer spotted the carjacked Hyundai heading north on County Road 17 from Hwy. 169 and gave chase. However, the pursuit was called off when Sughroue changed lanes in a construction zone, struck a highway barrel and sped away.

Shortly after 1:15 p.m., police in Robbinsdale were on the scene of a traffic collision involving the stolen SUV on Hwy. 100 south of the 42nd Avenue exit. Sughroue ran from the wreckage and tried to get into vehicles as they headed south.

“Ultimately,” the complaint noted, “[Sughroue] was dragged along the highway falling into lanes of traffic.”

Police spotted Sughroue in the bushes near a highway barrier wall and arrested him. His shirt was hanging from his neck, he had road rash covering his midsection and his head was bloodied.