Two kids suspected of launching a Molotov cocktail at a Midtown Greenway cyclist last week may be too young to charge with a crime, a police spokesman said Thursday.
Minneapolis police catch two in Molotov attack on Greenway cyclist
April 12, 2013 at 10:42PM
"They're at a real sensitive age," said Sgt. Steve McCarty, who could only say the two suspects are not yet teenagers.
It's not believed they had help manufacturing the bomb, which just missed cyclist Drew Ditlefsen April 3 as he passed under the 15th Avenue bridge spanning the Greenway. The flaming bottle exploded when it hit the Greenway surface and burned for up to a minute, Ditlefsen said.
McCarty said he didn't know the kids' motive.
The youth were identified by police Wednesday; the case has since been sent to the Hennepin County attorney's office for consideration of charges, according to McCarty.
Cyclists report occasional attacks along the Midtown Greenway, which runs 5.5 miles along an abandoned railroad bed from Lake Calhoun to the Mississippi River. Rocks have been thrown from overpasses at cyclists and runners, according to the Midtown Greenway Coalition. The neighborhood group sponsors a volunteer nighttime safety patrol of the Greenway and collects reports of crime along the trail, posting the tally online.
Matt McKinney
