The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) filed charges today against Adam Abdihakeem Adam, 18, of St. Louis Park for the shooting at the Eden Prairie High School homecoming football game one week ago today.
Reports indicated that police arrested Adam yesterday while driving in Minneapolis, and that Adam was booked into the Hennepin County Jail for probable cause 2nd degree assault.
The formal charges that were filed this afternoon included two 2nd degree assault counts and a third count of Riot in the 2nd degree. There were no charges related to gang involvement at this point.
Adam is now held on $100,000 bail and has been given a first appearance court date for Monday October 12th.
The affidavit that supported the charges was scant on details but describes Adam driving a car that belonged to his older brother when he pulled into the Eden Prairie High School parking lot next to a fight involving about ten people.
Surveillance video shows Adam get out of the driver’s seat of the car and fire a handgun toward those fighting. Two victims, who were described earlier as 17 and 18-year-old Somali males from St Paul, were struck but are expected to survive their injuries.
Police recovered one fired casing from the scene. Adam’s phone records tracked him and the car he was driving to and from the scene, after which Adam disposed of his phone.
Police searched Adam’s home and recovered clothing that matches the clothing he wore during the shooting.
There is no indication in the complaint about whether any firearms have been recovered or if there are other people being sought in connection with the shooting.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty has previously spoken of young adults under the age of 25 as being “emerging adults” who have less culpability for their actions due to their on-going brain development.
Moriarty’s representative, Morgan Kunz, spoke at the Edina community meeting earlier this week and explained that the HCAO’s approach to any potential charges in this incident would emphasize “proportionality.” According to Kunz the HCAO would seek to be “firm and fair” and would not necessarily seek the largest possible sentence, as that approach can “destabilize families and communities.”
Note – Adam intentionally fired a handgun at a group of people in a busy parking lot of a high school, striking two and fortunately not killing anyone. He was charged with two counts of 2nd degree assault (as well as a lesser count of “riot”) and held on $100,000 bail.
Earlier this year an ICE agent brandished his firearm during an incident on a freeway during which he believed he was being boxed in by a protestor. The agent did not shoot the firearm or injure anyone during the incident. When a State Trooper interviewed him, the agent fully cooperated and gave a statement about what led to the incident. Morgan Kunz charged that ICE agent with two counts of 2nd degree assault and held him on $100,000 bail.
Proportionality in action.
