Long sentence for random murder near Willmar after 100-mile crime spree of urban gunfire, carjacking

A man whose rapid-fire crime spree started with gunshots from a Lyndale Avenue balcony and capped off with a random murder about 100 miles to the west has received a prison sentence of more than 38 years.

Ameer M. Matariyeh of Minneapolis was sentenced Monday in Kandiyohi County District Court after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder in connection with the Oct. 22, 2024, killing of Jerome Skluzacek, 55, of New London and the shooting of Peter Mayerchak, 26, of Lake Lillian at separate locations near Willmar.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Matariyeh, 27, is expected to serve almost 24½ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

County Attorney Shane Baker said his office sought the statutory maximum, a nearly 46-year term for Matariyeh. That would have meant about 30 years of that time spent in prison.

As for a motive behind the violent crime spree, the criminal complaint noted that Matariyeh commented moments after his arrest “about throwing his life away because a girl ... cheated on him.”

Matariyeh’s gunfire from an apartment balcony in the 2900 block of Lyndale Avenue S. did not injure anyone along the busy corridor.

Police Chief Brian O’Hara said then that the shots occurred shortly after an altercation involving Matariyeh’s ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend. Matariyeh and the woman share a child, who was at day care at the time, police said.

According to the complaints:

An armed Matariyeh fled Minneapolis in his SUV and headed west. Around 130 p.m., he showed up at a gas station in Hollywood Township in Carver County and stole a couple’s car at gunpoint and continued west.

At 1:53 p.m., he was driving near Cosmos in Meeker County on Hwy. 7, where an officer was following him.

Matariyeh showed up about 2 p.m. at a farm home in Lake Lillian southeast of Willmar, where a 911 caller said Mayerchak had just been shot in he chest. Mayerchak made his way to a first-floor bedroom, where he received emergency medical attention before being taken by air ambulance to HCMC.

Mayerchak’s wife told a sheriff’s captain that her husband and Matariyeh had been arguing outside. Seconds later, a wounded Mayerchak, who was a Kandiyohi County correctional officer at the time, came in the home and directed his wife to get a gun.

Officers positioned to intercept Matariyeh speeding through the countryside spotted him driving by while on his cellphone. Multiple law enforcement squads gave chase. While in pursuit, OnStar was notified by law enforcement to disable the vehicle Matariyeh was driving.

As the chase kept going at speeds well above 100 miles per hour, he told Minneapolis police on the phone that he wanted police to kill him.

While officers were closing in, Matariyeh hit a pickup truck from behind at the Hwy. 71 and Hwy. 23 bypass southeast of Willmar. Matariyeh walked toward the pickup and shot Skluzacek sitting in the driver’s seat. He died at the scene.