A man is accused of crashing a vehicle, stolen during a carjacking and shooting in Minneapolis, into a house in St. Paul and injuring a passenger, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Lowell Kevin Higginsbay, 37, with drug possession, fleeing a peace officer and two counts of criminal vehicular operation. He had not been charged in connection to the carjacking as of Monday morning.

Lowell Kevin Higginsbay (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

On Friday about 2 a.m., Minneapolis police received a report that a man who’d been sleeping in a Chevrolet Traverse was pulled out of the vehicle and shot, and the assailants drove off, according to the Ramsey County criminal complaint. The man was taken to the hospital with apparent life-threatening injuries, Minneapolis police said Friday. The carjacking happened near Loring Park in the 200 block of Oak Grove Street.

The victim’s phone was inside the Traverse and was tracked to the area of University Avenue and Dale Street in St. Paul. About 3:15 a.m., a St. Paul officer saw the Traverse at Sherburne Avenue and Dale Street.

The officer turned on his squad car’s emergency lights and pulled up to the Traverse, which sped away on Sherburne Avenue. At Mackubin Street, the vehicle made a wide and fast turn and struck a house. The driver kept going, running at least five stop signs, before losing control at Victoria Street and Blair Avenue and crashing head-on into a tree, the complaint said.

Police identified the driver as Higginsbay, of Minneapolis.

A 24-year-old passenger in a rear seat was transported to the hospital and found to have a broken rib. She said Higginsbay offered her a ride to University and Snelling avenues and, shortly after she got into the vehicle, police began to pursue it.

Higginsbay, who was taken to a hospital for evaluation, also said he’d just picked up the woman and didn’t know her.

Police found a small bag in Higginsbay’s pocket with a substance inside and a presumptive test showed the presence of fentanyl, the complaint said.

Higginsbay told officers he’d consumed alcohol, and used heroin and methamphetamine that night, according to the complaint.

A resident of the home that was struck told police she and her children had been sleeping and hadn’t realized what happened. There were multiple tire tracks in the yard, a 10-foot wide “swipe” mark on the home and cracking in the foundation.

An attorney for Higginsbay wasn’t listed in the court file as of Monday morning.

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