UPDATE: An attorney representing some of the alleged gang members said on Thursday, Aug. 20, that a seventh alleged gang member agreed not to attend the state fair. A judge ruled against the remaining three on Thursday, banning them from associating at the fair.
Six members of two alleged Somali gangs agreed not to attend this year’s Minnesota State Fair after being named in civil lawsuits seeking to ban the gangs from gathering, while others say the lawsuits violate their constitutional rights.
State and local prosecutors made their case Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court for temporary injunctions against 10 individuals they allege are members of the gangs. The injunctions seek to prevent them from gathering at the fair this year after several violent incidents in recent years.
The lawsuits, filed earlier this month, identify the Muddy and The Ville gangs and lay out several incidents involving their alleged members, including a 2024 shooting just outside the state fairgrounds in Falcon Heights, a 2025 brawl inside the fairgrounds and a May 2026 shooting in St. Paul outside of the Metro State University graduation venue.
Last week, prosecutors with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and Ramsey County Attorney’s Office stated the need for the injunctions, using testimony from Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office gang investigator Ben Seidl to establish both groups as gangs under Minnesota statute.
Seidl testified that investigators use a nine-point list of criteria developed by the state’s Gang and Drug Oversight Council to identify gang membership. At least three of the nine points – which include identification by a reliable source like law enforcement, being arrested or consistently seen with other known gang members, and throwing up gang signs – need to be met to be considered a gang member.
This week, prosecutors focused on the individuals listed in the lawsuits. The prosecutors showed social media screenshots of them throwing up gang signs, surveillance footage of a coffee shop brawl and arrest records in an attempt to show they met the criteria.
The injunctions only apply to the 10 individuals listed in the lawsuits as alleged gang members. While they would not be prevented from attending the fair outright, the injunction prohibits them from associating with each other in and around the fairgrounds. They could also still attend the fair with family members or friends not listed in the lawsuit.
“At the end of the day, everyone should be able to go to the fair, even the named members,” Assistant Attorney General Keaon Dousti said in his closing remarks. “We want to balance dignity, safety and respect and that’s exactly what we’re doing here.”
More than 100 Ramsey County Sheriff’s deputies will be at the state fair, in addition to more than 140 Minnesota State Fair Police Department officers and more law enforcement from agencies such as the Minnesota State Patrol, St. Paul Police Department and Department of Natural Resources.
Ramsey County Undersheriff Mike Martin said the Sheriff’s Office will have a specific Field Identification Team made up of deputies who have investigated the individuals listed in the lawsuit and have their photos on hand.
“The majority of the officers and deputies working there don’t know the individuals involved, and we want to avoid false identification,” Martin testified. “We don’t want to violate someone’s civil rights or civil liberties so we want to make sure it’s done by someone who is very familiar with the individuals involved.”
Six of the 10 alleged members across both groups made agreements with prosecutors on Wednesday. They denied all allegations made against them in the lawsuit but agreed to give up their right to attend the state fair this year. In return, the allegations against them would be dropped once the fair was over.
Of the remaining four, two did not respond or seek representation, so prosecutors asked Ramsey County Judge Sara Grewing for a default judgement against them. The last two — Bilal Farah and Nasrudin Warsame — retained attorneys and pushed back against the injunctions, calling them performative, overbroad and a violation of their constitutional rights.
Farah and Warsame did not appear in court on Wednesday, though their attorneys said the two were not members of the Muddy gang, and that prosecutors failed to produce sufficient evidence to prove they were. Their attorneys also argued the shortened timeframe and lack of disclosures during the process violated their clients’ due process rights.
“I’ve seen more due process in cases where someone doesn’t pay their phone bill than in this case where someone is alleged to be a gang member and have their constitutional rights infringed on,” attorney Eric Rice, who is representing Farah, said during a hearing Wednesday
In his response, Assistant Attorney General Jacob Harris said Rice’s argument mischaracterizes the scope of their proposed injunction, and that this is a special circumstance due to the upcoming state fair.
“We’ve been very careful to tailor this injunction just to activities at the state fair for a time period that is 12 days in a small portion of geographical area that is related to the state fair,” Harris told the judge.
Grewing said she would rule on the injunctions by the end of the day on Thursday.
The state fair begins on Aug. 27 and runs through Labor Day.
