Somali gangs are terrorizing the Minneapolis area, sheriff says

A dozen Somali gangs with hundreds of members, mainly teenagers, are wreaking havoc in Minnesota, committing public shootings and murders out in the open, according to local officials.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, whose office patrols the metropolitan region surrounding Minneapolis and St. Paul, told the Washington Examiner that as many as 300 Somali youth are engaged in gang activity around the Twin Cities area.

According to Fletcher’s office, Somali gangs were responsible for at least 14 homicides in the past two years, as well as over 100 shootings, including gunfights that broke out at massively attended gatherings, such as high school graduation ceremonies and the Minnesota State Fair. Fletcher mentioned that one Minneapolis police officer reported that Somalis account for one-fifth, or 20%, of the city’s homicides. While the Minneapolis Police Department does not publish homicide data by race or national origin, making that claim impossible to verify, homicides in the city have been tied to Somali gangs in the past, as far back as the mid-to-late 2000s. For instance, in 2009, seven Minneapolis-area Somali men were killed over a 10-month period, and authorities believed that they were all murdered by fellow Somalis who belong to gangs.

At the time, Somali Hot Boyz, the Somali Mafia, and Madhibaan with Attitude were the most active Somali gangs operating in Minneapolis.

Most recently, the shootings in Minneapolis over the Fourth of July weekend, which included a murder reportedly stemming from an unlicensed Somali hookah lounge that runs out of the back of a warehouse and houses an autism center by day, were all attributable to the Somali gangs.

Fletcher reiterated that he is concerned about helping these at-risk teens entangled in gang life by confronting the community’s “danger of denial.” Last week, the sheriff warned in a nearly 45-minute public service announcement that community leaders need to recognize the pattern of violence now before the “300 kids running in gang circles” triple to 900 gang-involved juveniles.

“My 40 years of experience in addressing gang violence in our community has taught me that we need a three-pronged approach of prevention, intervention, and enforcement to impact the issue,” Fletcher told the Washington Examiner.

In another advisory video, Deputy Ben Seidel, an expert in Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office’s gun unit primarily handling Somali gang crimes, said the 12 active Somali gangs in Minnesota are “linked up” with ones in Ohio. Seidel, who is leading an organized crime investigation into these groups, said RCSO works alongside the Columbus Police Department based out of Ohio to track that interstate coordination.

OHIO HAS ITS OWN SOMALI FRAUD PROBLEM, HOUSE OVERSIGHT SAYS

In November, former Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara stated on a radio show that “East African kids” are flooding Minneapolis from “out of town” to start trouble. O’Hara, however, apologized for his comments days later following backlash from the Somali community.

Meanwhile, the top prosecutor for Hennepin County categorically denied the existence of Somali gangs in Minneapolis, the county’s seat. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty posted a video in December claiming that reports of Somali gangsters terrorizing residents were merely rumors.

“There are no roving gangs of Somalis targeting or harassing or doing anything inappropriate to any community members. Those are simply lies, it’s not true,” she said in the video, which was meant to address the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge.

Moriarty, a Democrat, accused the Trump administration of spreading what she insisted was misinformation through “a campaign of hatred and fear to try and divide us.”

Seidel said the rival Somali gangs appear to be motivated by “bragging rights” or their own “egos” when they carry out such brazen crimes. “It’s ongoing, and frankly, it’s nonstop and it’s out of control,” Seidel said of the county’s Somali gang problem.

According to a list of gang-related cases obtained by Alpha News, the sheriff’s office in Ramsey County has recorded more than 100 incidents across Greater Minneapolis connected to “East African violence” since 2023, with the first incident listed referencing a stabbing at a Minneapolis high school on Somali Cultural Night.

Documenting homicides, drive-by shootings, large-scale gun battles between feuding gangs, violent assaults, armed robberies, and a home invasion, the list contained case numbers for each incident, suspect names, and gang affiliations where available.

MINNESOTA CRIME PREVENTION GROUP CHAMPIONED BY DEMOCRATS IS ACCUSED OF $6.5 MILLION FRAUD SCHEME

Muddy, Ville, YSL, SLP, Juice, Shako, and the 1627 Boys were among the gangs named in the nine-page document. With a presence dating back more than a decade, the 1627 Boys were named after a high-rise apartment building managed by the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, the largest provider of affordable housing in Minnesota.

In several cases, shell casings matched ballistic evidence recovered from other previous shootings. The scenes of the crimes mentioned included Mariucci Arena on the University of Minnesota’s campus, the Mall of America, and the National Sports Center.

Minneapolis City Councilman Jamal Osman, a Somali-born Democrat, rebuked Fletcher’s efforts to raise awareness about the area’s Somali gang crisis, calling the sheriff’s rhetoric “dangerous.”

In a written statement, Osman said Fletcher was “scapegoating” all Somali youth to the point of “demonizing” them. Accusing the sheriff of “stoking racial resentment,” Osman claimed Fletcher was speaking about the Somali community “without the cultural understanding and care that public leadership requires.”

The councilman said law enforcement instead should focus on “deepening relationships” with Minnesota’s Somali diaspora. “Real leadership means showing up with humility, listening to the people closest to the problem, and working together on solutions that protect everyone,” Osman wrote, “especially with communities that have too often been over-policed, misunderstood, or ignored.”

Osman argued that the root causes of violence are “years of disinvestment, poverty, lack of opportunity, social isolation, and systems that have failed too many families for too long.”

On X, Osman added, “Real public safety means partnership, trust, & investment — not blame. Somali youth deserve dignity & respect.”

MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCILMAN WHO WAS CARJACKED PIVOTS AWAY FROM SOFT-ON-CRIME POLICIES

Somali leaders in St. Paul also held a press conference outside the Ramsey County courthouse on Tuesday to respond to Fletcher’s “disparaging” comments, claiming that the sheriff was “racializing crime” and placing Somali families under “collective suspicion.”

“But public safety is not advanced by sensationalizing violence, making sweeping generalizations about Somali youth, or using the authority of public office to publicly lecture and stigmatize an entire community,” the Somali American Partnership, a Minnesota nonprofit network, said in a press release announcing the courthouse rally.

Fletcher said he invites dialogue with stakeholders in the Somali community.

“I have worked with the Somali community for 20 years,” Fletcher told the Washington Examiner. “I welcome the opportunity to collaborate with all organizations wanting to address youth gang violence.”

Fletcher said his office is hosting a July 21 outreach event at the Arden Hills Patrol Station to discuss the issue and foster candid conversation and constructive solutions, adding that he embraces the attendance of Somali leaders, parents, and crisis workers.

“This is about saving lives,” Fletcher said. “I am thankful the conversation has begun.”

Fletcher has sent some of his investigators into Somali neighborhoods to talk with parents, many of whom he said are not even aware their children are in a gang.

“We have to be honest with ourselves,” RCSO gang investigator Jama Shine, who is part of the Somali American Police Association, said in one of the sheriff’s PSA videos. Shine, saying that the problem stems from poor parenting, talked about how children as young as 12 are out on the streets until 2 a.m. without supervision.

Minnesota state Rep. Samakab Hussein, the first Somali American to represent St. Paul in the state legislature, agreed with Fletcher’s assessment and urged his Somali constituents to be willing to acknowledge the problem within their community.

“Sheriff Bob Fletcher has publicly shared crime data, law enforcement reports, and stories from victims and residents that point to a troubling increase in gun violence involving a small number of youth gangs. Those concerns deserve to be taken seriously,” Hussein wrote in a community newsletter. “Based on the information presented and the impact this violence is having on families, I believe we have a responsibility to move beyond denial and toward solutions.”

Hussein hosted a community meeting of his own on the matter this past Wednesday, structured as a roundtable that offered resources to parents, educators, and youth leaders. Joined by Fletcher, the discussion panel was held at Midwest Community Care, a Somali-owned social services center in St. Paul.

“Public safety is not a partisan issue, and it should never become an ethnic one,” wrote Hussein, a Democrat.

Fletcher said jailing those involved in gang violence is part of the solution. Hussein said that while “accountability is non-negotiable” and individuals guilty of gang crimes should face consequences under the law, mass arrests are not the way to handle the community’s gang epidemic.

“We cannot arrest our way out of this challenge, nor can we prevent our way out of it without accountability,” Hussein said. “We need both.”