
Third Precinct inspector Michael Sullivan speaks to community members. Libor Jany/STAR TRIBUNE
A day after a shooting in the Seward neighborhood that left two young Oromo-American men dead and a third seriously wounded, police officials said they needed the East African community's help in solving the case.
At an emotional community meeting Monday night, officials faced some tough questions about last weekend's double slaying, in which Abdulahi Awuni, 19, and Rastem Abubakar, 24, both of Minneapolis, were shot while sitting in a car parked outside the Cedar 94 apartment building. No arrests have been made in the case.
Lt. Rick Zimmerman said the Somali and Oromo communities needed to step up to help police find the mystery gunmen.
"The most important way that we solve murders is by the community coming together and helping us do our jobs," said Zimmerman, head of the MPD's homicide unit. "No one deserves to do that to them; they were born into this world and only God can call them back.
"No can just shoot somebody and think they can get away with it," he said.
Medical examiners found that Abubakar died of a gunshot wound to the head, while Awuni was shot multiple times. The third victim, whose name and age haven't been released, was taken to an area hospital with noncritical injuries, police said.
"It was a very brazen shooting," Third Precinct inspector Michael Sullivan told the several hundred people packed into the apartment building's meeting room. "The victims were in the vehicle and it was parked and they were approached by some suspects, we believe, and there was some conversation and they were shot."