St. Paul man, 18, charged in Wednesday night’s shootout between 2 SUVs, police pursuit and crash into downtown St. Paul bar -

An 18-year-old man faces five felony charges in connection with a Wednesday night shootout between people in two SUVs, a police chase and a crash into a downtown St. Paul bar and restaurant.

Moesha Isiah Hart of St. Paul was among the three people arrested after one of the SUVs, which was stolen, crashed into Ox Cart Ale House, according to a criminal complaint filed against him Thursday in Ramsey County District Court.

Police also arrested James Quran Baker, 18, and a 17-year-old male at the crash scene. A Ramsey County attorney’s office spokesman said cases against those two had not been presented for consideration of charges as of late Thursday.

Baker remained jailed on Thursday night, while it was unclear whether the teen was in custody.

According to the criminal complaint, officers were called just before 4:30 p.m. on a report of shots fired in the 300 block of Luella Street near Interstate 94 and Ruth Street. The caller said people in a black Jeep were chasing and shooting at people in a white Jeep and that the gunfire sounded as if it was from an automatic weapon.

Officers spotted the black Jeep near Third and Ruth streets; the front license plate was missing and the rear window had been shot out. The driver fled at a high rate of speed.

Officers pursued the Jeep on Ruth Street to Minnehaha Avenue, McKnight Road and to Interstate 94. When the Jeep exited the highway at Sixth Street, the pursuit was terminated for safety reasons, the complaint said.

The Jeep continued to flee and eventually ran a red light at Wall and Sixth streets in Lowertown, crashed into another vehicle and then into the unoccupied Ox Cart Ale House, which is temporarily closed. The driver of the struck vehicle was not injured.

“Undeterred, the driver of the Jeep tried to continue to flee by ramming the Jeep through the business,” the complaint read.

The three suspects then jumped out of the Jeep and tried to flee police on foot before being arrested.

Police found the Jeep’s key fob in Hart’s pocket. He told an officer that he was concerned about his house keys, which were attached to the Jeep’s key fob that police had seized.

The Jeep had a Minnesota license plate on the back that was not registered to the vehicle. A check of the Jeep’s vehicle identification number revealed that it was stolen Dec. 1 in St. Paul.

The owner had told police that someone stole her orange 2017 Jeep Cherokee, which had been parked in front of her home in the the 1500 block of Selby Avenue.

Since the theft, the Jeep had been “wrapped” to make it appear black.

“Auto thieves commonly switch license plates, and sometimes change a vehicle’s color, in order to thwart law enforcement efforts to identify it,” the complaint read.

Next to the driver’s side door, police found a loaded Glock Model 45 9-mm handgun with a loaded, extended magazine. The pistol had been modified with a “switch” that converted it to operate as a fully automatic weapon.

Several spent shell casings were also recovered from inside the Jeep.

All three suspects refused to speak to investigators.

Hart was charged with motor vehicle theft, fleeing police in a motor vehicle, aiding and abetting drive-by shooting, possession of a machine gun and possession of a firearm without a permit.