A 19-year-old Minneapolis man faces several charges in connection with two September drive-by shootings that happened about three hours apart, one of which injured three teenagers after they left the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on the last night of the season.
Musharaf Zainab Arab was charged by warrant last week with three counts of aiding and abetting attempted murder and two counts of aiding and abetting drive-by shooting. He was arrested on the charges Friday and remained jailed Monday in lieu of $2 million bail.
According to the criminal complaint, officers responded to a shots-fired call near a parking lot in the 1000 block of North Snelling Avenue, south of Wynne Avenue, about 10:20 p.m. Sept. 2. They found a 17-year-old who’d been shot in the leg.
The teen told police he was walking to his friend’s car with others after the Fair, heard gunshots and realized he’d been shot. He hid by railroad tracks until officers arrived. He said he did not know anyone who would want to hurt him.
The two other shooting victims arrived at area hospitals in private vehicles. A 17-year-old with a gunshot wound to his calf showed up at Regions, and an 18-year-old who’d been shot in the neck arrived at Hennepin County Medical Center.
They also told police they were shot in the parking lot and did not know why. One said he thought it was fireworks at first until he saw blood running down his neck. The other said he heard 10 gunshots in quick succession before they all scattered.
Officers recovered 53 spent casings in three different locations beneath the Snelling Avenue bridge, just east of the parking lot. Analysis of the casings showed they were fired by three guns.
Surveillance video showed a blue sedan park under the bridge. Several people got out, while the driver stayed put. Shooters fired at the three teens from the street, while another fired from a gravel area by the train tracks. The shooters got back inside the sedan, and it left.
Other surveillance video that caught the sedan showed it resembled a blue Volkswagen.
About three hours later, at 1:16 a.m. Sept. 3, deputies were sent to a drive-by shooting at a BP gas station in Little Canada, just east of Interstate 35E along Little Canada Road.
Surveillance video showed a blue sedan stopped at the intersection of Centerville Road and Little Canada Road. The sedan circled back and went out of sight. About two minutes later, gunshots were fired at four men who stood outside cars at the gas station pumps. The men fled, apparently uninjured.
Deputies recovered seven casings near the gas station.
Investigators discovered the sedan was a Volkswagen Jetta owned by Arab, the complaint says, and that it had been involved in a gun-pointing incident involving three suspects Aug. 27 in Minneapolis.
Location data of Arab’s cellphone place it in the area of both shootings, the complaint says.
Analysis of the casings show the same 9mm handgun and .40-caliber handgun were used in both shootings.
No one else has been charged in connection with the shootings, Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said Monday.