ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — Standing before a packed Ramsey County sheriff’s office station in Arden Hills, Nimo Abdullahi tearfully pleaded for a stop to the gang violence that took her son’s life.

“He was about to graduate college, and within five minutes after I talked to him over the phone, he was shot and killed,” she said of her son Maslah Khalif, who was gunned down on a Minneapolis street in March.

Abdullahi was one of nearly 200 people in attendance at the meeting organized by Sheriff Bob Fletcher this week regarding Somali gang violence. It’s led to disagreement over whether it was insensitive for Fletcher to single out Somali gangs as an emerging problem, or necessary to sound the alarm.

Fletcher sparked both backlash and support when he released a social media video alleging an increase in violent behavior by 12 Somali gangs. Fletcher estimates it’s about 300 children and young adults who participate out of more than 100,000 Somalis in Minnesota.

“We’re here to save children,” Fletcher said at the meeting attended mostly by Somalis. “That’s our mission at the sheriff’s office: saving children both from getting into a crime life and from children getting shot.”

Imam Hassan Jama of the Alhikma Islamic Center criticized Fletcher for singling out Somali gangs specifically. Jama said he wants Fletcher to see “crime as crime” rather than focusing on it happening among a particular ethnicity.

“This is way bigger than us — it’s an America problem, it’s a state problem,” Jama told the room. “Still we have a horrible experience and devastating messages coming from Donald Trump and messages coming from you.”

When Jama asked if Fletcher would consider apologizing to the Somali population, he stood by his remarks.

“No, I am not sorry; it started the conversation,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher estimated there are between 1,000 and 2,000 gang members throughout the Twin Cities. But he said Somali gangs are committing a disproportionate amount of violence.

The meeting turned argumentative at times, with shouts and heated exchanges erupting in the crowd after Fletcher defended his remarks.

Some Somalis, like Minneapolis City Council Vice President Jamal Osman, have decried Fletcher’s assertions as harmful, particularly after Operation Metro Surge, the federal immigration enforcement action last winter that targeted Somalis and the immigrant population.

Critics say Fletcher is stigmatizing Somalis and building upon rhetoric used in the last year by President Donald Trump and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer. Groups like the Islamic Association of North America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations have publicly pushed back against Fletcher.

Others were supportive of the sheriff’s efforts and said Somalis need to be united in working to stop gang violence. State Rep. Samakab Hussein DFL-St. Paul, said it’s necessary to acknowledge the challenges with curbing Somali gang violence.

Abdullahi, whose son was killed, said he was an innocent bystander in a shootout between two rival gangs. She now hopes that police and fellow Somalis will do more about it.

“It’s very sad there’s no organized community members or imams who reach out to the investigation departments who pressure them to do something,” Abdullahi said.

Fletcher’s presentation included social media videos where gangs were seen fighting or threatening one another.

The clips showed crowds of children punching and stomping on one another at the Minnesota State Fair or at the Mall of America. Another showed a brawl at a World Cup watch party in Minneapolis’ North Loop neighborhood over the weekend.

Some children filmed themselves showing off and shooting handguns and rifles with “switch” devices that allow them to fire continuously like a machine gun. Others were equipped with extended magazines or laser sights for better accuracy.

Some posts included “win and loss totals” showing how many times a gang has shot or beat up a rival. Another included the image of a young woman with the text: “Wanted dead or alive” with the word “alive” crossed out.

After the meeting, Jama got into a heated argument with several other Somali men about whether it was necessary for Fletcher to call out Somali gangs.

Mohamed Mohamed, principal at Harvest Best Academy, said he attended the meeting with his son because he was outraged by Fletcher’s comments.

“It justifies the profiling of Somali East African kids to be searched, and that’s not okay,” Mohamed said. “I think we need to talk about solutions, and what I told them was how this was framed is absolutely wrong.”

Instead of social media videos and public meetings, Mohamed said Fletcher should have met with mosques or community centers to collaborate with parents.

Abdirahman Warsame, a co-founder of the addiction recovery nonprofit Generation Hope, agrees that gangs are an issue and supports a discussion about it. But like Mohamed, he had a problem with Fletcher’s phrasing.

Somalis who support Fletcher hope the Tuesday gathering can be the start of a series of informational sessions to help reduce gang activity.

Iglan Ahmed, a Minneapolis mother of six and school bus driver, said it’s crucial for Fletcher to inform Somalis about how violent gangs have become.

“All those kids I have, we want them to be safe,” Ahmed said. “The sheriff and what he’s saying is not a bad thing. He’s just trying to save the kids. Our community needs to wake up and realize we have to work with him.”

At least two Republican candidates running for election in Minnesota were also at the event.

Paul Wikstrom, a Republican who’s running for Minnesota’s Fourth Congressional District, said while meetings like Tuesday night’s can be uncomfortable and argumentative, he thinks it was necessary and effective.

“That took a lot of courage, and I don’t see [other] leaders in the law enforcement community or the political community doing anything like that,” he said.

The day after the event, Fletcher said he hopes to schedule a follow-up event that includes Somali mothers, as well as critics.

“You couldn’t possibly watch those videos and not be concerned about your children,” he said.

©2026 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.