A Minneapolis man was charged with second-degree murder in a shootout that killed a rival, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Tuesday.
Mahad Ali, 18, was charged with the murder which also mentions being motivated by involvement with a criminal gang. He is expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday in the death of 25-year-old Mustafa Ali of Minneapolis.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called to 23rd and Aldrich Avenues North about 6:25 p.m. Friday because of gunshots. One squad, told that a victim was in a red Chevy Impala, stopped the car on Lyndale Avenue and provided first aid to Mustafa Ali, but paramedics pronounced him dead a few minutes later. He had suffered three bullet wounds to the chest and was also known as a high ranking member of the Somali Outlaws gang.
Police officers also noticed a gray/silver Nissan Altima that appeared to be following the Impala. That car showed up a short time later at Hennepin Healthcare and the two people inside were identified by police as Harun Samatar and Awale Ali, members of the 1627 Boys, who are a rival gang to the Somali Outlaws, the complaint states.
Not long after the Nissan drove up to Hennepin Healthcare, a gray Jeep Cherokee also arrived and Mahad Ali ran to the front door saying he had been shot. In fact, he did undergo surgery for a bullet wound, according to the complaint.
Interviews with witnesses and surveillance video indicated that the driver of the Jeep had picked up a drug dealer on Broadway Avenue and then drove him to 23rd and Aldrich Avenues North so the dealer could sell to someone else. That person was Mahad Ali, who got into the backseat of the Jeep. He had been driven there by Samatar and Awale Ali, Mahad Ali’s uncle, the complaint states.
Less than a minute later, Mustafa Ali walked up to the backseat door of the Jeep and the two men fired at each other, according to the complaint. Mahad Ali’s mother told police that her son and the victim had “a beef” for months.
