Warrant Issued for Suspected Carjacker

A nationwide arrest warrant has been issued for an Inver Grove Heights man charged with four felonies in connection with a series of successful and attempted carjackings last week.

Blake Syed Uddin, 30, is charged with three counts of attempted robbery and one count of theft from a person, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, Inver Grove Heights police were called to just before 9:30 a.m. Aug. 23 after someone reported an attempted carjacking.

The victim told police that a man ran from an apartment complex toward his vehicle, shouting that he needed help. Uddin opened the car door on the driver’s side, grabbed the victim and tried to pull him out of the car, telling him, “I need your [expletive] car,” according to the complaint.

The victim said he accelerated away from Uddin, who hung on to the car until he was forced to let go. At that point, the victim said, he watched Uddin approach a different car.

As the initial victim was on the phone with a 911 operator, he saw a red Chevrolet Impala speeding from the parking lot. The Impala’s owner told police that as she was putting her books in the car’s back seat, she saw a man sitting in the driver’s seat, the complaint said. She told him he had the wrong car, and he said, “I had to do this,” then sped away in the Impala, the complaint said.

A few minutes later, police were notified of an accident with injuries involving the Impala around Hwy. 52 and Butler Avenue. Witnesses said a man ran away from the Impala and was hit by a van as he ran across the highway; the first victim of the attempted carjacking identified Uddin as the man who tried to steal his car.

Police spoke to a man who said he had been driving in front of Uddin when Uddin—driving the stolen Impala—struck his car and sent it spinning. The victim said he blacked out briefly, and when his car stopped, he saw Uddin trying to get into another car.

A woman who stopped to help the accident victim told police that Uddin yelled at her to open her door and get out of her car, grabbing at her arms and torso through the window, trying to force her out. She told police that she had to punch Uddin to get him away from her car.

Uddin was then spotted running into the northbound lanes of traffic, trying to get into other cars. When he ran into the southbound lanes, a van hit him, witnesses told police.

Police found out later that Uddin had tried to steal yet another car from a victim at Inver Hills Community College immediately after the first carjacking attempt, the complaint says.

The victim of that attempted theft told police that she witnessed a confrontation between two men in the parking lot, but didn’t know what was happening until Uddin approached her and said, “Give me your [expletive] car.” She told him no, and when Uddin reached inside the car to try to unlock the door, she drove away.