Minneapolis man is held in shooting of Somali teen

Last update: April 24, 2008 - 11:56 PM

A 23-year-old Minneapolis man is being questioned by police in the April 12 shooting death of a Somali teenager in Minneapolis' Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.

The man, who was booked into the Hennepin County jail at 3 a.m. Thursday for probable cause in the case, is considered a person of interest, Minneapolis police Sgt. William Palmer said.

Abdullahi Awil Abdi, 18, was shot about 9:15 p.m., just after he had entered a friend's car in the alley in front of the Freewheel Bike shop on 6th Street just off Cedar Avenue S. He had planned to graduate from high school this spring and attend college, his family said.

The slaying prompted meetings between police and members of the Somali community about gang activity in the neighborhood. It is believed those responsible for shooting Abdi were gang members, said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center.

"We're now actually in conversations with the police on how to address this ever-increasing gang activity," Jamal said. "We don't want to see any of our kids killed and we don't want to bury anyone else, so we need to get to the roots of this crisis."

Jamal said Abdi's family members are viewing the police's questioning of the man as a positive step but are hoping for another arrest.

ABBY SIMONS