Rochester man charged in fatal shooting near U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis

A Rochester man, who's already facing a first-degree murder count in a fatal shooting in Moorhead, Minn., was charged Wednesday with murder in connection with a fatal shooting near U.S. Bank Stadium.

Idris Abdillahi Haji-Mohamed, 28, was arrested by Minneapolis police Saturday on probable cause in the murder of Jeremy Demond Ellis, 26, the night before. Haji-Mohamed told police it was a drug deal gone wrong, according to the criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court. His Rochester attorney, James McGeeney, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The complaint states that Clay County District Court had granted Haji-Mohamed conditional release with an ankle bracelet monitor after he was charged with murder in a September 2021 shooting in Moorhead.

That November, a Clay County grand jury indicted Haji-Mohamed and an accomplice in that case. His release was ordered in June 2022.

Clay County Attorney Brian Melton said in an interview Wednesday that his office asked for Haji-Mohamed's bail to be set at $10 million, but the court lowered it to $3 million without conditions and $1.75 million with conditions. Haji-Mohamed paid a bail bondsman $175,000 and agreed to wear the monitor and forfeit his passport.

"We felt we did everything we could to work toward ensuring public safety and make sure he made future court appearances," Melton said, adding that Haji-Mohamed made all appearances and was not in violation of his release until Friday's shooting.

Melton said that Haji-Mohamed's ankle monitor went dead around 2:30 a.m. Dec. 31, about five hours after the shooting. Authorities were monitoring his whereabouts up until that point, Melton said, but it's unclear if Haji-Mohamed was required to stay in the Rochester area as part of his release after posting bail.

On Friday night, officers found the Plymouth man, identified by medical examiners as Ellis, with multiple gunshot wounds and sitting inside a running vehicle near the stadium at 6th Street and Chicago Avenue, on the east side of downtown Minneapolis.

Police recovered five discharged .40-caliber cartridge casings in the parking lot, according to the complaint. Inside the vehicle, police found "a wad of cash with several hundred dollar bills in it on the front passenger seat and a handgun tucked between the driver's seat and the center console with the barrel facing up."

Investigators reviewed surveillance footage from the area and spoke to an eyewitness who heard the gunshots and saw a man, later identified as Haji-Mohamed, duck behind a car before following her into an apartment building.

Officers saw Haji-Mohamed leave the apartment with another man and pulled over the vehicle they left in.

Haji-Mohamed told police "multiple versions of events before he admitted that he had been in the parking lot in his Dodge Charger and was in the process of buying drugs from victim," according to the complaint.

While the complaint says surveillance video captured the shooting, details included in the complaint do not confirm if Haji-Mohamed's version of events took place.

He admitted to going into the apartment to change clothes and discard the .40 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun, according to the complaint.

The Clay County charges allege that Haji-Mohamed carried out a deadly shooting on Sept. 10, 2021, outside an apartment complex in Moorhead. That night, Haji-Mohamed allegedly followed a victim in a vehicle from a Casey's Store gas station to the apartment where he chased after him while shooting a 9mm pistol.

The victim was shown on surveillance video running away, and at one point during the chase, Haji-Mohamed is shown dropping a magazine clip that he turned around to retrieve. What he didn't realize was that he dropped his wallet, according to charges.