Slaying in Minneapolis comes as shock to family

The 23-year-old St. Paul man was shot in a car in quiet neighborhood.

Last update: October 27, 2009 - 12:13 AM

A 23-year-old man found dead Monday morning in a south Minneapolis parking lot died of multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said.

Ali Yassin Ismael was found just after 1 a.m. in the lot at 1814 Nicollet Av. S., near Groveland Avenue, according to the Hennepin County medical examiner's office. No arrests have been made, and police said they had no new information Monday night.

Ismael was shot and killed as he sat in a car, Minneapolis police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ismael lived in St. Paul and moved to the area nine years ago, said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center. Jamal said that he talked early Monday by phone with Ismael's mother, who he said has limited or no English skills.

"He had never been in a fight," Jamal said of Ismael. "This was a complete shock."

Ismael's mother said she got a call from her son on Sunday night but didn't know what he had been doing before the shooting, Jamal said. Witnesses said they saw a group of people run from the car, according to KSTP-TV.

The scene of the shooting is in the Stevens Square-Loring Park neighborhood. According to Minneapolis police statistics, no other homicides had been reported in the neighborhood this year as of the end of September.

Steven Gallagher, executive director of the Stevens Square Community Organization, said that the area has had only four homicides since 1998 and that Monday morning's shooting was "very out of character."

The group runs a citizens block patrol about three times a week, but usually concentrates on livability crimes in the area, which includes a part of Eat Street.

The lot "is not one of our hot spots," Gallagher said. "It's relatively quiet. It's not a spot of concern."

Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call 612-692-8477.

VINCE TUSS AND Paul Walsh

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