Seward Market Murders: 2 Teens Charged With First Degree Murder

MINNEAPOLIS -- Hennepin County Prosecutors have charged two 17-year-old Somali men with first degree murder for the shooting deaths of three men at Seward Market-Halal Meat.

Mahdi Hassan Ali and Ahmed Shire Ali, both of Minneapolis, are each charged with 3 counts of murder in the first degree. Both were immediately waived into adult court. Bail for each is set at 3 million dollars.

Twenty-eight-year-old Osman Jama Elmi of St. Paul, 30-year-old Mohamed Abdi Warfa of Savage, and 31-year-old Anwar Salah Mohammed of Brooklyn Park were all fatally shot the night of Wednesday, January 6th.

A criminal complaint details what investigators say happened. About 7:30 that evening, Ahmed Shire Ali entered Seward Market-Halal Meat from the rear and told people not to move. Two customers, described in the complaint as witnesses, scrambled to hide in the store's freezer. At the same time, Mahdi Hassan Ali entered the front of the store, and told everyone in the market that a robbery was occurring. He forced two employees down on the floor at gunpoint. The events were captured on the market's elaborate surveillance system.

Investigators say customer Anwar Salah Mohammed then walked through the front door, and Mahdi Hassan Ali shot him. The gunman ran outside through the front door, apparently followed by employee Mohamed Abdi Warfa. Another shot rang out, and Warfa was later found dead outside the market.

Police say that Mahdi Hassan Ali then ran back inside the store and fatally shot the remaining employee, Osman Jama Elmi, before the two men fled.

In the days that followed, unspecified sources gave police information that led to the arrests of the two teenagers. The criminal complaint says Ahmed Shire Ali told police that Mahdi Ali was the gunman, and that he didn't even have a weapon when the robbery was carried out.

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