Abdisalam Sahal was walking from his Minneapolis apartment to the bar across the street Thursday night when he was attacked by three unknown men.
Sahal, 25, said the men outside his apartment near the West Bank stopped him in the street and asked him for a cigarette.
“I told them, ‘I don’t have them,’ and kept walking,” he said.
But the men wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.
“All of a sudden they jumped on my back and choked me and started kicking me,” he said.
Sahal was tackled in the middle of the street, where the men beat him.
They reached into his pockets looking for his wallet and punched him in the face, breaking his glasses.
There wasn’t any money in the wallet, Sahal said, but the men left with the wallet containing his debit card and his identification.
Sahal went back to his apartment building to call police. He stayed on the phone and followed the men for about 10 minutes.
Once Minneapolis police arrived, the three men fled, according to the police report.
“They dropped everything on the street,” Sahal said.
Police picked up the wallet and its contents and gave it back to Sahal, but he had to be taken to Hennepin County Medical Center for his injuries.
“I was supposed to go back to work Sunday,” he said, “but I’m going to ask for one or two more days off,” because of persistent headaches and a swollen eye.
Minneapolis police arrested the three men – Dine Ahmed, 24, Nesruddin Hassen, 25, and Warsame Mohamed, 25 – and took them to the Hennepin County Jail.
All three are still in custody and have been charged with aggravated robbery in the first degree – causing bodily harm while committing a robbery.
Each man had a bail set at $75,000.
Stolen car repaired by auto shop
Mechanics at Jubba Auto inadvertently repaired the wrong car Tuesday afternoon, according to a Minneapolis police report.
Idiris Mohamud told police his shop repaired what they thought was the right Honda Accord, which was sitting in the shop’s public parking area.
When the owner came to pick up his Honda Accord, he told the shop the car they fixed was not his.
The two cars were the same color and year, and according to the report, the owner’s keys worked on both vehicles.
According to the report, the stolen car was taken from 2813 Fourth St. SE, only a few blocks from the auto shop.
The car didn’t have any damage to the steering column or ignition, according to the report, and it was towed to the Minneapolis impound lot.
Dinkytown business robbed twice in past two weeks
After having a $100 bill stolen during business hours earlier this month, Hair By Stewarts has been burglarized twice in the past 11 days.
Workers reported one burglary sometime between Feb. 16 and Feb. 18, and another during the night of Feb. 20.
Minneapolis police Sgt. Bill Palmer said $580 was taken during the first heist, but only $22 was taken the second time.
Both times the robber or robbers entered through the front door by prying it open.
“It might be the same person, but there is no physical evidence that would tie the same person to both of these,” Palmer said.
There are no suspects in the cases at this time.