Was Somali man's slaying a payback for testifying?

Four months ago, Ali Ismael gave key testimony in a Minneapolis murder trial of a Somali gang member whom prosecutors described as cold-blooded. On Monday, Ismael was shot to death in a Minneapolis parking lot, and police are investigating whether he was targeted because of his role in the trial.

Police also are looking into the possibility that an unrelated argument led someone to kill Ismael, 23, as he sat in a car in a restaurant parking lot at 1418 Nicollet Av. S. Police and a spokesperson for Ismael's family said Wednesday they have no evidence Ismael had been threatened or that his life was in danger.

In 2008, police worked to build relationships within the Somali community after a rash of homicides in which witnesses were reluctant to come forward. Now, Ismael's killing has put a new strain on that relationship because police exposed Ismael to danger, said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center.

"We can't see any other motive for Ali's death other than he testified," Jamal said. "This sends a wrong message to the community."

Ismael was one of several witnesses who testified against Hassan Mohamed Abdillahi, 23, who was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced in August to 32 years in prison. The victim, Abdishakur Hassan, 21, was shot in the chest in September 2008 outside the Village Market Mall, a popular place for Somali immigrants, at 912 E. 24th St.

A surveillance camera captured the shooting. Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Pete Connors said that Abdillahi waited and "hovered" for seven seconds over the fallen Hassan, as he writhed on the ground. "In a sense, he was relishing it," Connors said during the sentencing hearing.

District Judge Mel Dickstein said he was troubled by what he saw next in the video: "Virtually everyone in the bustling area outside the mall where the shooting happened took off immediately after the killing," he said. "Key witnesses failed to come forward to report what they saw or heard -- not at the moment of the killing, nor in the hours or days that followed."

During the trial, Dickstein issued two arrest warrants for witnesses who failed to respond to prosecutors' subpoenas. One of those witnesses refused to testify and was jailed for 90 days.

Prosecutors said Abdillahi shot Hassan as misdirected revenge for the April 2008 shooting of Abdillahi's cousin. They said Abdillahi believed the shooter had fled the country, so instead he killed Hassan, the man's friend.

Abdillahi and his lawyer, Ira Whitlock, argued that he was set up, the target of a conspiracy in which Ismael was a participant. Lt. Richard Zimmerman, head of the police department's homicide unit, said "we wouldn't produce a witness for trial that lied." Whitlock said he is appealing the case.

"When we take a statement, we need to back it up with another statement or some physical evidence," Zimmerman said. "The contention that he was set up is a classic defense attorney's defense."

Whitlock expressed condolences to Ismael's family and the Somali community. The death of any young person is a loss of a community asset because they "have the potential to go off and do great things," he said.

Ismael and Abdillahi had played basketball and went to school together, Whitlock said. Ismael was a "star witness" for the prosecution, one of two men who gave statements identifying Abdillahi as the shooter. He said he didn't know why Ismael would not tell the truth.

"He wasn't a typical witness, because he wasn't standing there watching my client pull the trigger," Whitlock said. "Long after the shooting, he came forward and claimed my client was the culprit."

Whitlock said it would have been difficult for anybody to identify the shooter because his face was concealed. He also said he discredited a witness who said he had run into Abdillahi several weeks before Hassan was killed. The witness claimed Abdillahi said he was going to kill a man who knew something about the death of his cousin, Whitlock said.

"When I had him on the stand, he said he didn't know Ismael," he said. "I then called Ismael, who said he had know him for at least six years. That should have discredited his testimony."

Jamal said Ismael, who lived in St. Paul, graduated from Edison High School in Minneapolis. He was arrested for some minor crimes, but was working hard to turn his life around, Jamal said. There have been incidents of Somalis being threatened after speaking to police, he said.

For now, Zimmerman said it's prudent for his investigators to explore every possible motive.

David Chanen • 612-673-4465