(WCCO)
The sister of one of the men murdered last night in South Minneapolis said her brother was a good man.
Rahma Warfa said he was a father to four kids, an employee for GE and a husband to a wife who’s hurting so badly, she won’t even talk to the family.
“Until she sees him, she won’t believe that he’s dead,” Warfa said.
She said they’re waiting for the medical examiner, so they can bury Mohamed Warfa as quickly as possible.
“Culturally, we usually bury the person right away,” she said.
At a Somali market this morning, friends and cousins were just waiting, too.
“I’m in shock, when I was told, I was shaking all night. I didn’t sleep last night,” said Ahmed Sharif, a cousin.
They say the community doesn’t understand and that Mohamed and his cousin, Osman Elmi, were good people.
“Angry and sad, but we don’t know who to get angry to. We just hope that the criminal will be caught and brought to justice,” said Mohammed Hussein, a friend.
Rahma isn’t there yet. She’s just trying to hold it together for now, to get her head around the fact her brother is gone.
“Up to now, we don’t know exactly what happened, or how he died. Who killed him. On top of the face that he’s gone, we still don’t know what happened. We’re trying to question,” she said.
Minneapolis: Police calls on Somali community to help solve shooting
by Mark Zdechlik, Minnesota Public Radio
Minneapolis — Police were looking for at least two suspects on Thursday after three Somali men were shot to death the previous night at a corner grocery in south Minneapolis.
Mayor R.T. Rybak and Police Chief Tim Dolan asked the Twin Cities Somali community to help them find those responsible for the shooting, who investigators believe are also Somali.
“We have a challenge right now that this entire community needs to come together around, which is to bring every possible piece of information forward,” Rybak said at a news conference.
The names of the three men who were killed at Seward Market have not yet been released by authorities, but a family member has said two of the victims were Abdifatah and Mahad Warfa, who were related.
“The victims were doing nothing but running a very, very good store,” Dolan said.
Investigators were still interviewing witnesses and had not yet released names or any other descriptions.
“These individuals who committed this act are very, very dangerous,” Dolan said, adding that police believe there is a danger to the Somali community.
Neighbors and members of the Somali community were shocked and saddened by the incident on a typically quiet stretch of Franklin Avenue. It was the city’s first triple homicide in nearly six years and the latest in a string of slayings among the city’s Somali population.
“It’s a terrible tragedy,” said Peter Fleck, a Seward neighborhood resident who runs an online forum.
Fleck was walking in an alley behind the market at the time of the shooting and heard at least one shot. He said he walked around to the front of the store, saw the bodies and called 911. He also saw one person running away, but he couldn’t see much.
“It was dark. There was no way to see any details,” Fleck said.
Rybak and Dolan, who were both at the scene Wednesday night, had scheduled a news conference Thursday to talk about the city’s low crime rate. The event instead focused on the shooting.
“We’ll talk about trends another day. Today the entire community needs to talk,” Rybak said.
Police responded to Seward Market on East Franklin and 25th avenues just before 8 p.m. Wednesday on report of a robbery, but Dolan said he could not yet confirm the motive of the shooting or say whether a robbery took place. Several other people were in the store at the time.
A woman at the scene, Shukri Farah, said she was buying some things at the market when she saw three men speaking Somali enter the store. According to local residents who translated, Farah said one of the workers suddenly grew shaky.
He told her he had suspicions about the men and went to talk to them. Farah said she left the store and only later learned about the shooting.
On Wednesday night, Abdirashid Abdi asked Rybak to make the case a priority.
“Nobody wants to hear someone who has a business and gets killed in their business,” Ali said. “So this is a very sad night for the Somali community and something we don’t even need right now.”
A candlelight vigil was planned for 7:45 p.m. Thursday at Seward Market.
The store is just one of several small East African businesses and independent merchants that have revived this stretch of Franklin Avenue. The Seward neighborhood is a diverse, middle-class area southeast of downtown known more for its food co-op than crime.
Many customers said Seward Market was clean and well-maintained, and the workers were friendly and always quick to help their patrons. Still, there have been signs of trouble at the Seward Market. The front door was repeatedly smashed and boarded up over the past few years.
On Wednesday night, just steps away from the news vans and the crowds, one man stood quietly holding a lit purple candle. John Wright lives just a few blocks away.
“I just wanted to, however small, express some gesture of support and prayer for peace and healing for the Somali community,” Wright said. “It just seems like one tragedy on top of another for them lately. They bring a lot of vibrant culture and diversity to our area, and they’re a real asset to our community, and it’s heartbreaking to see what they’re going through right now.”
(MPR’s Elizabeth Dunbar, Tim Nelson and Laura Yuen contributed to this report)
inalilahi wa inalilahi rajicuun. alaha u naxariisto ilahey samiir haka siiyo dadkii eey ka tageen.. Inshalah those who commited this crime will be brought to justice in this world and the hereafter. My condolenses goes out to the victims families as well as the somali community in MN.