Minnesota and Ramsey County announced this week that they have secured injunctions and agreements to keep alleged members of certain Somali gangs away from the state fair, prompting questions about why such action was even needed in the first place.
As Alpha News previously reported, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and Ramsey County Attorney’s Office together filed a lawsuit in an effort to prevent two rival Somali gangs from committing violence at the Minnesota State Fair when it starts next week.
The civil lawsuits were filed against “Muddy,” “The Ville,” and 10 named affiliates and alleged that the “criminal gangs” constitute a “public nuisance.”
Court documents said the gangs have been connected to multiple violent incidents across the Twin Cities, including a triple shooting outside the fairgrounds in 2024, chaos and brawls at the state fair last year, shots fired at Burnsville High School’s graduation last year, and a shooting that occurred during the Metro State graduation near Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul this spring.
A sworn affidavit included in court filings from Ramsey County Deputy Ben Seidl, a gang expert, outlined the gangs’ structures and violent activities and said they have regularly used the Minnesota State Fair in recent years to engage in criminal activity and were planning to do so at the 2026 Minnesota State Fair. Images of social media posts that appear to foreshadow gang confrontations at the state fair were included in the affidavit.
Now, Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office has announced that seven of the 10 alleged gang members have agreed not to attend the state fair or be within a “designated safety zone” around the fair for the duration of the event.
Those seven individuals deny that they are gang members, Ellison’s office said, noting that the lawsuit against them will be dismissed if they comply with the agreement.
The court ruled that the remaining three individuals are members of the Muddy gang and prohibited them from partaking in gang-related activity at the fair or in the safety zone.
“Criminal law is a tool we use as a society [to] hold individuals accountable after they have committed criminal offenses. Civil law is a tool we can and should use to help prevent crimes before they happen, and that’s what we’ve done here,” Ellison said in a press release.
Others, however, were more skeptical of the action. Minnesota Rep. Walter Hudson, for instance, said it’s “clear that the only real concern here is optics at the fair, not enduring public safety.”
“This is disgraceful political theater,” added Sen. Michael Holmstrom. “So it’s ok if these men ‘aid gang activity’ — just not in front of suburban voters at the Fair?”
Bill Glahn, a policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, had similar concerns.
“Why do we have to negotiate with terrorist gangs to be allowed to hold the State Fair?” he asked. “Who is in charge here?”
Crime Watch Minneapolis contributed to this report.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
