20 Arrested, 18 Charged in Minneapolis Beatings

Minneapolis police report 20 people have been arrested, 18 of them charged, in connection with two brutal mob-style robberies caught on tape in viral videos.

The suspects range in age from 15 to 27 and were charged with various counts of robbery relating to two vicious robberies in August in which mobs surrounded young men and beat them unconscious. Some suspects were charged with first-degree felony robbery, which carries up to 20 years in prison.

Police told Fox News mobs targeted “vulnerable” victims for valuables like cell phones.

Brendan O’Brien, 24, told Fox News he was out celebrating his birthday in Minneapolis when he was surrounded by one of the mobs and then beaten. The video appears to show O’Brien clinging to his belongings until he finally was knocked out.

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Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo told Fox News the attacks seen in the videos are abhorrent.

“It is truly unacceptable for me as chief and it’s unacceptable for our Minneapolitans,” Arradondo said. “No one wants to tolerate that type of criminal behavior.”

Police told Fox News a team of investigators worked for three weeks in partnership with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department to track down the assailants.

“There has to be consequences for your actions,” Arradondo told Fox News. “I don’t want there to be a small group of people that feel that they can go unchallenged, unchecked.”

The videos appear to show groups of black men beating white males but Minneapolis police told Fox News the attacks do not qualify as hate crimes because the attackers didn’t target their victims for class or race. Rather, they were targeted because they were “impaired” or “compromised.”

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