2 killed when driver who tossed gun flees traffic stop, T-bones another car in St. Cloud
Two men are dead after a speeding driver who threw a gun out of his vehicle before fleeing a traffic stop T-boned another car, police said.
Around 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, a St. Cloud officer saw a truck with no headlights on speeding on Ninth Avenue South. The officer pulled the driver over, but when he approached the truck, the driver threw something out of the window and sped away, according to police.
The officer didn't chase the driver, police said, but did try subsequently to find the car. When he couldn't, he returned to the location of the traffic stop and found the thrown item, which was a gun.
While he was at the scene, a crash occurred on the 1300 block of 10th Avenue North. Police said the driver who fled the traffic stop hit the broadside of another car while speeding, killing both of that car's occupants — two men, ages 59 and 45.
The St. Cloud Police Department later identified the men as Suleiman Abdi and Craig Hennen, both from St. Cloud.
The suspect driver, a 26-year-old Sauk Rapids man, is hospitalized in critical condition.
The crash is being investigated.
