A 16-year-old girl was killed and five people were injured early Saturday after a driver struck a small crowd gathered on a street in downtown Minneapolis, police said.
Woman arrested after teenage girl killed, five hurt in downtown Minneapolis hit-and-run
The driver, who hit a crowd of people on N. 5th Street, is jailed on suspicion of murder.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
September 14, 2024 at 11:09PM
Authorities tracked the suspect in north Minneapolis and arrested 22-year-old Latalia Anjolie Margalli. She was booked into Hennepin County jail on suspicion of murder.
Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a news conference that it was unclear if alcohol was involved or whether Margalli was driving with a suspended license.
But O’Hara said there’s “no question” that she meant to use her vehicle as a weapon.
“The video of this is absolutely horrific. There aren’t words to describe how tragic and senseless it is to lose a 16-year-old female over something like this,” said O’Hara, adding that at least a dozen people stood in the vehicle’s path. “However, we are thankful because it’s clear we could have had more fatalities and more people injured.”
Police said the incident began after a fight among Margalli and others around midnight in the middle of N. 5th Street at Hennepin Avenue. She allegedly got into an SUV, drove in reverse down Hennepin, then the wrong way on 5th Street and into a crowd of people, police said.
Video of the incident on social media shows the SUV pause before rolling through the crowd, running over some people and driving away as screams echoed down Hennepin Avenue.
Other video seems to show Margalli’s SUV idling about an hour before the incident while a woman dances on her hood. Police Sgt. Garrett Parten said the vehicle appears to be hers but could not confirm it was since the investigation was underway.
Witnesses followed the suspect as she drove out of downtown, said police, who received the hit-and-run call at 12:23 a.m.
Minneapolis police, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office deputies and State Patrol troopers stopped Margalli in the 2300 block of Bryant Avenue N. and arrested her.
The 16-year-old girl was taken to HCMC in downtown Minneapolis, where she died. The other injured also were taken to the hospital. Parten said one of them — a 29-year-old woman — suffered life-threatening injuries. Two 14-year-old girls and two men, ages 24 and 28, were treated for minor injuries.
Court records show Margalli was convicted of driving with a suspended license in Washington County on New Year’s Eve and of driving after revocation in 2020.
In 2022, she pleaded guilty to fifth-degree assault for beating her 14-year-old sister, who claimed Margalli was angry with her because she had boys over. Doctors told officers that the girl suffered a dissected carotid artery in the assault, an injury that could lead to a stroke or death.
According to court documents, Margalli admitted that she had been ill and “been treated ... for a nervous or mental condition.”
Staff writers Paul Walsh and Jeff Day contributed to this report.
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