Mankato Man Charged with Attempted Murder in Drug Deal Shooting

Aug 8

A North Mankato man has been charged after a June shooting left the victim paralyzed in what police say was a drug deal set up to rob him.

Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud, now 19, is charged in Blue Earth County with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault causing great bodily harm and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.

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The charges were filed Friday following a nearly two-month investigation by Mankato police. According to the complaint, officers were called around 11:26 p.m. on June 12 to a Mankato apartment complex after callers reported hearing multiple gunshots and someone screaming for help. Officers arrived to find the glass door and window of the main entrance shattered and bullet holes in the entryway.

Inside, they found a man on the floor of a hallway, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He told officers he couldn’t move or feel his legs and said he had fired his gun toward the front entrance to try to get help.

He was rushed to a trauma center where doctors found a lacerated liver and extensive spinal damage. Doctors say the man is paralyzed due to his injuries.

Police recovered several shell casings near the victim, along with a pistol, magazine, bullets, and a bag containing marijuana products. Inside the bag, police found 236 grams of suspected marijuana, 49 suspected THC vape cartridges and 252 grams of marijuana wax. Officers also located a single 5.56 rifle casing at the other end of the hallway, suggesting there may have been a second shooter involved.

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Witnesses told police they heard an initial gunshot, a man crying out and then a series of additional shots. One resident recalled someone outside saying, “I’m not gonna rob you, there are three of you and one of us,” just before the shooting.

Using surveillance video, phone records and social media data, police identified Mohamud as one of four people who had gone to the apartment for a planned $2,000 marijuana deal. According to investigators, Mohamud was with three others—including the buyer, who chose the location—and drove them to the apartment complex in a vehicle linked to him. After the shooting, Mohamud reportedly fled to the St. Cloud area and later the Twin Cities. One of the others was picked up nearby by his mother. Another was found hiding inside the building with a large amount of cash and was released, later returning to the buyer’s home.

Investigators later obtained social media photos of Mohamud holding an assault-style pistol, and after the shooting, he messaged a contact asking if he had left “the 556,” a reference to a rifle caliber, in his car.

The victim initially told police he didn’t know who shot him but later identified Mohamud, who goes by “Ablicc,” as the person who pulled the trigger. He said the three others were speaking to him in the hallway when Mohamud came around a corner and shot him with what he described as an assault-style pistol. He said he never drew his own firearm before being shot and only fired after he was on the ground trying to get help.

Mohamud is currently in custody. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the top two felony charges.

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