Police calls on Somali community to help solve shooting

Police calls on Somali community to help solve shooting

by Mark Zdechlik, Minnesota Public Radio

Minneapolis (AP) — Police were looking for at least two suspects on Thursday after three people were shot to death the previous night at a corner grocery in south Minneapolis. Mayor R.T. Rybak and Police Chief Tim Dolan asked the Twin Cities Somali community to help them find those responsible for the shooting. "We have a challenge right now that this entire community needs to come together around, which is to bring every possible piece of information forward," Rybak said at a news conference. The names of the three men who were killed have not yet been released by authorities, but a family member has said two of the victims were Abdifatah and Mahad Warfa, who were related. "The victims were doing nothing but running a very, very good store," Dolan said. Police said they believe the suspects are Somali, but investigators were still interviewing witnesses and had not yet released names or any other descriptions. "These individuals who committed this act are very, very dangerous," Dolan said, adding that police believe there is a danger to the Somali community. Police responded to Seward Market on Franklin Avenue just before 8 p.m. Wednesday on report of a robbery. Dolan said he could not yet confirm the motive of the shooting or even whether a robbery took place. Several other people were in the store at the time. A woman at the scene, Shukri Farah, said she was buying some things at the market when she saw three men speaking Somali enter the store. According to local residents who translated, Farah said one of the workers suddenly grew shaky. He told her he had suspicions about the men and went to talk to them. Farah said she left the store and only later learned about the shooting. The typically quiet stretch of Franklin Avenue was flooded Wednesday night with news vans. Throngs of worried neighbors, many of them Somali-Americans, clustered around the police tape searching for answers. Customers who shopped at the market for sugar and halal meat gathered on sidewalks to trade bits of information. The store is located in an area that is home to many Somali immigrants, and sold meat prepared according to Islamic requirements. Rybak and Dolan were at the scene Wednesday night. Abdirashid Abdi walked up to the mayor and urged him to make the case a priority because there were three shooting victims. Rybak told Abdi that the city would do its best to solve the killing. Dolan said there were other people in the store who survived the killing, and the market also carried security cameras. The Twin Cities has seen an uptick in recent years in Somali-on-Somali killings, but mostly related to street gangs or retribution. Hindia Ali's brother, an Augsburg College student, was gunned down two years ago while working as a youth mentor. The triple slaying, she said, is another hit for her community. "Nobody wants to hear someone who has a business and gets killed in their business," Ali said. "So this is a very sad night for the Somali community and something we don't even need right now." Many customers said the market was clean and well-maintained, and the workers were friendly and always quick to help their patrons. Still, there have been signs of trouble at the Seward Market. The front door was repeatedly smashed and boarded up over the past few years. The store is just one of several small East African businesses and independent merchants that have revived this stretch of Franklin Avenue. The Seward neighborhood is a diverse, middle-class area southeast of downtown known more for its food co-op than crime. Just steps away from the news vans and the crowds, one man stood quietly holding a lit purple candle. John Wright lives just a few blocks away. "I just wanted to, however small, express some gesture of support and prayer for peace and healing for the Somali community," Wright said. "It just seems like one tragedy on top of another for them lately. They bring a lot of vibrant culture and diversity to our area, and they're a real asset to our community, and it's heartbreaking to see what they're going through right now." Wright said he wishes he knew his Somali neighbors better so he could express his condolences with words. But for now, a lone candle and a prayer would have to do. A larger candlelight vigil was planned for 7:45 p.m. Thursday at Seward Market. (MPR's Elizabeth Dunbar, Tim Nelson and Laura Yuen contributed to this report) http://www.hiiraan.com/print2_news/2010/Jan/police_calls_on_somali_community_to_help_solve_shooting.aspx