A Minneapolis man has admitted to fatally stabbing his roommate in the neck with a knife.

Abdirahim Mahamed Jama, 39, pleaded guilty on Monday in Hennepin County District Court to second-degree unintentional murder in the killing of Abdurahman Warfa, 27, on April 30.

State guidelines call for a prison term of 12½ years. Sentencing is scheduled for April 22.

Jama's guilty plea came on the day his trial was to begin.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police went to the apartment in the 500 block of Cedar Avenue S. about 10:30 p.m. and found Warfa dead from a stab wound.

Jama, who was also in the apartment, had blood all over his clothing and told officers, "He attacked me, and I stabbed him."

Jama later told police that he had asked Warfa to turn down the radio and that Warfa began hitting him.

Jama said he had been using the knife to eat a plate of goat, and when he made a motion to deflect the punches, he stabbed Warfa. Jama said they were the only ones in the apartment.

But witnesses interviewed by police told a different story.

One man said that he was one of four people drinking in the apartment when Warfa and Jama argued about Warfa's girlfriend and that Jama grabbed a knife from the kitchen sink and stabbed Warfa.

Another man gave a similar account about the two arguing and then Jama stabbing Warfa.

Paul Walsh