Police identified Anas Mursal Mohamed, 18, as the gunman in a Sept. 18 shooting on the University of Minnesota campus.

Mohamed was arrested the following day and released from custody on Tuesday. As of Wednesday, he is currently back in jail with a $100,000 bail. 

Mohammed’s court appearance was on Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors charged him with five felonies, totaling a sentence upwards of 13 years.

No victims were reported, according to the University. The investigation remains ongoing.

However, witnesses at the scene say otherwise.

Event attendees Mohammed Yusef and Abdirahman Farah said a bullet grazed a student’s leg, according to The Minnesota Daily. Farah knew the victim and said he saw him after the shooting with an injured knee. 

Fourth-year Ali Abdelrehim said he was approaching Church Street Garage when he heard gunshots and screaming. Law enforcement held him and others from exiting the garage until they were able to ensure the scene was safe.

“It sounded like two fireworks, and I was hoping it was that,” Abdelrehim said. “Unfortunately, it was not.”

Dahir Munye, President of the Somali Student Association, said this episode resulted in strife for the group. As the lead representative for SSA, he was an integral point of contact between the University and the group in conflict resolution. 

This responsibility did not come without an incredibly heavy emotional toll. Before his role as a student group leader, Munye said being a University student comes first.

“Could you imagine having this happen, and then you have an assignment due at 11:59 p.m.?” Munye said.

Munye acknowledged the immense support he has received from the rest of the SSA board. He has not yet fully mentally processed the shooting, which he said was “never supposed to happen.”

“I just want to make sure everybody knows that they are incredibly hard workers,” Munye said. “We are a bunch of students that are dealing with this, you know?”

Abdelrehim raised personal concerns on behalf of all University students. Low-spirited by the creeping trend of Twin Cities gun violence, he said there are no reasons for people to have guns on campus.

“I am just going to school,” Abdelrehim said. “I wanna know that I am going to school and coming back in one piece.”

Abdelrehim said the police response was prompt, but could not say the same for the University’s crisis control. It was only after he told a friend that he was present near the scene that a SAFE-U alert was issued. 

The shooting occurred at least half an hour before an alert was released. 

Abdelrehim said he questions the University’s response time.

“I did not really see much from the University,” Abdelrehim said. “I know they have rules in place. I am just wondering what they are doing to implement them.”

President Rebecca Cunningham addressed the shooting in a systemwide email.

“Their (UMPD) swift actions minimized the risk to our University community,” Cunningham said. “I deeply appreciate all who responded with urgency and continue the active investigation of the incident.”

Along with the shooting came the hate, Abdelrehim added. He said he predicted a bigoted community response to the racial identity of the gunman.

“The minute they find out who did it, they are gonna start labelling,” Abdelrehim said.

His prediction rang true. The incident inflamed preexisting xenophobic hate speech on social media, which has been seen frequently on social media hubs like X.

Popular X community crime alert account CrimeWatchMpls posted a photo of Mohammed with the caption, “Who had Mohamed on their BINGO card?” Other comments spewing anti-Somali rhetoric followed the post. 

“Somalian trash, SHOCKER,” an X user said. Another commented, “I’m f-cking sick of these ungrateful refugees, they need to go NOW.”

Abdelrehim said he has seen this before. He said that people often develop bold conclusions based on small sample sizes.

“Just because one individual decided to do something heinous does not mean that we should hate the rest,” Abdelrehim said. “I see this a lot because Minnesota has such a large Somali community.
One person’s actions just end up making everybody else hate an entire ethnicity.”

As lead SSA representative, Munye said he feels that student safety now falls on him. 

“I want people to know that we do care about everybody’s safety who comes to our events. Our events are for University of Minnesota students, not just the Somali students,” Munye said. “This was not an accurate representation of our culture and who we are.”