Democratic Minneapolis City Councilman Jamal Osman was carjacked days after winning reelection on a liberal criminal justice reform platform, Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Tuesday.
A 15- and 16-year-old threatened Osman with mace on Monday, stole his car, crashed into other cars and a fire hydrant and ran on foot before police captured them, O’Hara said in a press conference. Although Osman’s Nov. 4 campaign promoted “restorative justice programs for low-level offenses,” the use of “alternative” responses to some 911 calls, “violence prevention programs” and other liberal priorities, he stressed that those who robbed him must face repercussions.
“I’m not a legal expert, but there has to be some kind of consequences with the action,” Osman told reporters. “If individuals know they can get away [with] this kind of heinous behavior or crimes, they’re going to continue doing it again.”
“I think we have to continue to support young kids, especially even younger-age at middle schools,” Osman said. “Make sure that they have an opportunity to be mentored by adults and, you know, create after-school programs, help them with employment.”
Osman described his preferred approach as “prevention and also consequences,” thanking the police for responding to the incident.
The city councilman, a former Somali refugee who took office in 2020, did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. Osman was endorsed by far-left politicians such as Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and failed socialist mayoral candidate Omar Fateh, his campaign website shows.
Minneapolis experienced an overwhelming Minnesota’s majority of carjackings and murders in 2024, with 329 and 77, respectively, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) data shows. It was the only Minnesota city to surpass single-digit numbers for those crimes. Homicides increased by 6% since 2023, and carjackings rose by 21%, according to the BCA.
The Democrat-controlled city’s murders fell slightly from the 85 recorded in 2020, the year of COVID-19’s rise and nationwide Black Lives Matter riots, according to the city’s crime map. However, they did not fall below the 48 from 2019.
“While the overall crime in Minneapolis has declined over the last few years, we continue to see a troubling number of violent incidents and, in particular, incidents that involve juveniles,” O’Hara said.
One of the juveniles who targeted Osman was already “known” to police, and the pair were involved in another carjacking earlier that evening, O’Hara said.
“Didn’t really think it was going to happen to me,” Osman said with a chuckle.
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