Fact check: Emmer blames ‘Somali gangs’ for two assaults at schools

U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, in a recent appearance on Fox Business, blamed “Somali gangs” for two recent violent incidents in the Twin Cities, drawing criticism from Somali American and Islamic groups.

“Somali gangs are incredibly dangerous,” the Minnesota Republican said in the TV appearance.

Emmer accused suspects in both a January basketball game assault case at Cooper High School and a May 30 nonfatal shooting at the University of Minnesota’s Mariucci Arena of being tied to Somali gangs.

“We had an attack at a high school basketball game last spring where a Somali gang came in and started beating a kid on the bench with a tire iron,” Emmer said. “We had a shooting at the University of Minnesota during a graduation ceremony this spring that was Somali gang-related.”

He mentioned a meeting with the FBI recently, saying that “they’re taking action, but it’s been a long time coming.”

Isuroon, an organization dedicated to Somali American women and their families, sent out a release in which CEO Fartun Weli called the remarks a “racist rant.” Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Minnesota, called the remarks “extremely divisive and Islamophobic,” and said Emmer had unfairly attacked and scapegoated Minnesota’s Somali American community.

Spokespeople for Emmer did not immediately return a request for comment Friday on CAIR and Isuroon’s criticisms of his remarks on Fox.

In the Cooper High School incident, five teenagers were charged with participating in a bloody ambush of a Fridley High School varsity basketball player, who was hit with a tire iron during a game. One of the defendants, 18-year-old Mubashir Ali, took a plea deal where he admitted to second-degree rioting. He was holding a knife at the time but did not strike the victim, according to a June 17 guilty plea petition.

Ali wrote in the petition that he was part of a “group” that planned the attack. The petition does not describe that group as a gang.

“I was part of a group that went to a high school with a plan to assault a known individual,” he wrote. “I did not make this plan, but I went along with the plan and knew of the plan before we got to the school.”

In the other incident, Hamza A. Said of Coon Rapids was charged with first- and second-degree assault, as well as possession of a machine gun.

The charges allege that Said is seen on video running near the east entrance of Mariucci Arena right after the Wayzata High School graduation ceremony. The footage allegedly shows Said pulling out a handgun and firing multiple rounds. One victim was struck in the head and another in the leg; both survived the shooting.

Four days after the Wayzata graduation ceremony, Minneapolis police stopped a car for not making a full stop at an intersection and found Amiir Mawlid Ali with a machine gun in his car.

The occupants of the car stated they were heading to the Edina High School graduation ceremony that was also at the University of Minnesota, according to the complaint. Under Ali’s seat, officers found a Glock 10-millimeter semiautomatic pistol.

The charges say the officer knew Ali from previous investigations and that he was “associated with multiple recent gang-related shootings.”

On Friday, Isuroon was informed that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had terminated a grant that would have given the organization $428,000 intended for programs to study and combat violence in the Somali American community.

Over the past two years, Isuroon received that same amount of funding to conduct a study looking at the systemic problems that can lead to violence.

It also found there were no cultural-specific shelters for Somali women, especially women with large families.

Some youths were drawn into selling drugs and joining gangs or were dying of overdoses, the study found. Isuroon was planning to use the next two years to develop programs to educate the community and create programs to combat violence. Now that program is in jeopardy because of the cuts, Weli said. The grants would have provided $214,000 for 2026 and again in 2027.