🔥 Hard mode copper heist

April 7, 2026

Some crimes you hear about feel low-stakes, like packing hotel towels or folks yanking Amazon packages off porches. This was not that.

In St. Paul, someone tried to steal copper from an electrical vault and triggered a surge that knocked out power lines at two intersections and set multiple vehicles on fire, including a minivan. It’s like tugging one wire and unplugging a whole neighborhood.

No injuries, no arrests, just a reminder the grid is not a vending machine.