Undersheriff Mike Martin from the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office is speaking out on the undeniable Somali gang violence in the Twin Cities metro area and how to stop it.
Martin has spent more than 30 years in law enforcement as a gang expert and also currently serves as vice president of the Midwest Gang Investigators Association.
WATCH:
In less than 10 days, there have been Somali gang shootings in Edina, Eden Prairie, Bloomington, and even a shooting between cars driving down Highway 100.
“There are young kids, I call them kids, but young adults too in the Somali community who are involved in gang violence and the level of violence has been brazen,” Undersheriff Martin said.
“I think we need to identify those that are the most prolific criminals and target those folks, but at the same time, reach out and hopefully prevent the younger kids from getting involved,” he added.
In July, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher posted a video explaining that Somali gang violence has reached a tipping point in Minnesota.
Fletcher implored local leaders and elected officials to pay attention and get involved before it gets worse. He detailed in that video more than 100 shootings, including some high-profile shootings at graduations and the Minnesota State Fair, along with 14 murders tied to Somali gangs. Back then, Sheriff Fletcher said there are about 300 gang members and at least a dozen Somali gangs in the state.
“This is going to require a multi-jurisdictional solution. We need to pull together all of the agencies that are affected in the Twin Cities area and work this issue together. And I think the best way to do that is to have a task force,” Undersheriff Martin explained.
“The key is information or intelligence and making sure that everyone’s on the same page, that we all know who’s involved, what they’re doing, where they’re the most active, what are the crimes they’re involved in, that we share information because these kids live in one city, but they’re active throughout the metro area and even in other parts of the state. So we have to make sure that we’re all on the same page,” he said.
According to Martin, the “main crimes that they’re involved in are weapons, possession, trafficking in guns back and forth. A lot of that’s within their own friend groups, but they’re purchasing machine gun conversion devices.”
“As you saw in the Bloomington shooting the other night, 97 rounds — casings recovered. We’ve seen that in other shootings. They’re involved in intimidation, primarily of each other. It’s very different from our traditional street gangs. They’re highly mobile, they’re brazenly violent. You know, we just saw that the other night, right after you have a community meeting about this issue in Edina, an hour, hour-and-a-half later, they’re shooting at each other at the gas station in Eden Prairie,” he said.
Undersheriff Martin also pointed out that social media is part of the problem.
“Social media really drives a lot of the problems that we’re having. They taunt each other, they brag about the stuff they’re doing. Within minutes of shootings and violent events, they’re posting it on social media making fun of the victim side,” he said.
Meanwhile, more than a few elected officials seem more concerned about the language that is used to describe this behavior rather than the actual criminals who are committing these violent crimes. For example, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said just about a year ago that “there are no roving gangs of Somali people” in a video posted to social media.
Let us be very clear: there are no "roving Somali gangs terrorizing people."
The Trump administration is, once again, using a campaign of hatred and fear to try and divide us.
It will not work. pic.twitter.com/3ahQ11Hgnx
— Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty (@HennepinAtty) December 2, 2025
Martin blasted Moriarty’s response — or lack of it.
“I think we rely on our prosecutors to hold people accountable for their behavior. And I think it’s clear that she hasn’t been doing that in Hennepin County and we’re dealing with the results of that,” Martin said.
NEW: Ramsey County is civilly suing the Somali gangs "Muddy" and "Ville" alleging they are "criminal gangs" and constitute a "Public Nuisance."
The lawsuits seek to bar the defendants from engaging in gang related activity and seek to bar them from the Minnesota State Fair… pic.twitter.com/D0V4I4VB35
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) August 7, 2026
“We need strong prosecutors. When we went to John Choi over here to ask him to support us in our civil gang injunction against the most violent Somali gang members to keep them from the State Fair, he stepped up. We had to convince him and Attorney General Ellison. Obviously, we don’t always agree with everything they do, but they stepped up and gave us the tools that we needed and the support to get that civil gang injunction,” Martin explained.
“Unfortunately, Mary Moriarty does not want to confront the issue and she has an agenda that’s very different than the agenda that we have to assure public safety.”
Liz Collin
Liz Collin is a multi-Emmy-Award-winning investigative reporter, news anchor, and producer who cares about Minnesota. She is the producer of The Fall of Minneapolis and Minnesota v We the People documentary films, and author of the Amazon best-selling book, They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and The Death of George Floyd. Her work has prompted important state laws. Yet perhaps most of all, Liz has been giving a voice to the truth—and helping others tell their stories—for more than 20 years.
Dr. JC Chaix
Dr. JC Chaix is an editor, educator, and an expert in media studies. He wrote and directed the Alpha News documentary "The Fall of Minneapolis" and "Minnesota v We the People."
