Officials from 40 law enforcement agencies gathered in Blaine on Monday, Oct. 19, to update the public on gang violence across the Twin Cities, which officials say is being driven by Somali-American youth. Speakers included BCA Superintendent Drew Evans, FBI Special Agent in Charge Chris Dotson, Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher and Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges.
Bloomington has its own stake in this. Just after midnight on Oct. 6, police responded to gunfire in the 10000 block of Harriet Avenue. They found shell casings everywhere: surveillance video showed at least 2 people firing more than 100 shots, police said, and 1 injury was reported. No arrests had been made. Hodges said the suspects and the victim all belong to Somali-American gangs. He said the people involved come from two-parent homes, live in apartments that rent for $3,500 and drive luxury cars. "They're out here shooting each other based on social media beef," he said.
Four days earlier, on Oct. 2, a shooting broke out near the Eden Prairie homecoming football game. Adam Abdihakeem Adam, 18, was charged with assault and riot with a dangerous weapon. Officials say Edina has also seen violence, and that the problem reaches beyond these 3 suburbs. Evans named the effect on school events directly: "Anytime there's a shooting at a football game and I hear discussion about moving the time of football games to the afternoon because we can't hold them at night, that's a problem."
The agencies aren't creating a new standalone task force. Coordination will run through the Crime Gun Intelligence Center, an existing network run by the BCA, FBI and ATF. Hennepin County is also forming a Hennepin Enhanced Enforcement Team, or HEET, with staff from the sheriff's office, Minneapolis police, University of Minnesota police, the DEA and the ATF. Officials estimate about 300 people are involved in Somali-American gang activity, out of roughly 2,000 gang members across the metro. They also said members carry guns fitted with switches that make them fire rapidly.
The big caveat is that nobody has a reliable count. Only 15 people are currently listed in the BCA's gang database. "I can't look you in the face and say how many gang members we've got because we don't have a database," Hodges said, pointing to the state's "checkered past" with gang databases. "This is an attempt, right now, to get in front of this so we don't repeat some of the mistakes we've made in the past."
The biggest piece of that past is the Metro Gang Strike Force. It was shut down in 2009 amid corruption and oversight problems, including illegal seizures and missing evidence.
Witt said the county had let up on gang violence before. "We're not going to let that cycle happen again," she said. She also had a warning about the backlash aimed at Somali residents: "Actions of an individual do not define the entire community," she said, calling the hatred "absolutely ridiculous, unneeded and unnecessary."
