The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) on Monday posted a sobering and surprising video on social media calling out the “out of control” Somali gangs in the Twin Cities area and Minnesota.
The video was surprising in the sense that the Somali gang problem has long been ignored and skirted around by local leaders and Twin Cities media who seem afraid to directly name the problem.
In fact, Sheriff Bob Fletcher directly called out media for their lack of reporting on the issue in a short promo clip he posted prior to the main video.
Fletcher’s main video didn’t pull any punches either. He stated that the Somali gangs are responsible for at least 14 murders in the last two years as well as over 100 shootings — many of them at high profile events like graduations and the State Fair. Fletcher also said in his promo video that he heard from a Minneapolis police officer who said that 20 percent of their homicides are now Somalis.
Fletcher was joined by Deputy Ben Seidel, who was identified as a gang expert with RCSO’s gun unit. He’s also assigned to the Minneapolis police firearm assault/shoot team, and he works primarily on Somali gang crimes.
Seidel detailed that Minnesota has about 12 Somali gangs and they are linked up with Somali gangs in Ohio, and he indicated they are traveling back and forth. Seidel said RCSO works along with Columbus police on gang-connected issues.
Seidel named shootings last year at Mariucci arena on the University of Minnesota campus and Burnsville High School’s graduation, as well as the shootings at the Metro State graduation near St. Paul’s RiverCentre this spring as connected to the Somali gangs.
One of the largest of the local Somali gangs resides in Minneapolis, Seidel said, and they have been fighting with the suburban gangs in feuds that started in about 2022. Seidel said we’ve had “shootings and homicides nonstop ever since,” while referencing a violent melee and stabbing at a Somali cultural event in 2023 at Washburn High School in south Minneapolis.
The Somali gangs appear to be motivated by “bragging rights” or “egos,” Seidel said, stating that they’re not really involved in drug dealing like a lot of other gangs. However, he said their high-profile antics, especially at the State Fair and posting on social media, lead to more shootings. “It’s ongoing and frankly, it’s nonstop and it’s out of control,” Seidel said.
Seidel then addressed the violence this past weekend in Minneapolis and said that the shootings in Northeast Minneapolis were all Somali gang-related, including the murder on Wilson Street, the shootings at Broadway Street and New Brighton Boulevard that left at least one injured party “brain dead,” and several shootings early Monday morning.
Sheriff Fletcher referenced video clips posted by Crime Watch over the weekend from the Northeast Minneapolis incidents in which automatic gunfire could be heard. Fletcher and Seidel said that the Quarry shopping center parking lot near 18th and Johnson Street Northeast has been a hangout spot and hub of gang activity stemming from the area.
RCSO Investigator Jama Shine said, “We have to be honest with ourselves … we have youth issues.” Shine talked about how kids as young as 12 are out on the streets until 1 or 2 a.m. without supervision, “so we have a parenting issue,” he continued.
There’s a lot of speculation as to why the Somali gang problem has been so blatantly ignored by Minnesota leaders and has not been significantly reported on in Twin Cities mainstream media since prior to 2010. Somalis are a key voting bloc helping to keep Democrats in power in the Twin Cities, and Democrats have been quick to frame any criticism of Somalis as racist. In fact, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in November 2025 held his election night victory party for his third term with a group of Somalis and even gave part of his victory speech in Somali.
Late last year, former Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara stated on a local radio show that “East African kids” were responsible for wreaking havoc in Minneapolis. The former chief quickly walked back his comments and apologized a few days later after receiving backlash from the Somali community.
In December, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty posted a video stating that rumors of roving Somali gangs targeting or harassing people were lies and were not true.
“There are no roving gangs of Somalis targeting or harassing or doing anything inappropriate to any community members. Those are simply lies, it’s not true,” she said in the video that was meant to address the presence of ICE agents in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge.
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
Alpha News reached out to Moriarty’s office for comment on Sheriff Fletcher’s video, which appeared to refute her denial of the existence of Somali gangs, but did not receive a response.
Sheriff Fletcher said a patrol facility in Arden Hills will hold a community meeting on July 21 to address the Somali gang problem and he hopes to get the Somali community involved in taking action. The event will be held at 6 p.m. at the Sheriff’s Patrol Station at Hamline Avenue and Hwy 96.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.