Siham Ali, an 18-year-old Concordia University student, said the possibility of violence was on her mind when she went to the Minnesota State Fair on Friday, but she still decided to go.
“It makes families worried about whether they can send their child here, whether they can send their child there, because of how these few kids are acting up,” she said. “It’s very bad for Somali people because none of us want to be associated with that.”
Following multiple incidents, including a 2025 brawl inside the fair and a 2024 shooting just outside the fair, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi filed lawsuits against the Muddy and The Ville gangs, in an effort to head off violence at the fair this year.
A judge approved the temporary injunctions, which don’t outright ban the alleged gang members from attending the fair, but instead prohibit them from associating with each other at or near the fair. The injunctions initially named 10 individuals from both gangs, but seven of the 10 defendants made deals with the Attorney General’s Office where they agreed not to attend the fair at all. In exchange, the lawsuits against them will be dropped once the fair ends.
As millions of Minnesotans attend the State Fair this year, law enforcement and community members alike are hoping to have a peaceful celebration.
According to Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, the fair will employ more than 300 officers from agencies across the state this year, including more than 100 Ramsey County deputies and 140 State Fair police officers.
Suhayb Ali, a 17-year-old from Bloomington, called the behavior of the alleged gang members “a waste of time.”
“If they were doing it for narcotics and all of that, at least they’d be making money,” Suhayb said. “But they’re just doing it for bragging rights and that makes it 10 times worse.”
Hamza Ahmed, 18, said he feels safer at the fair knowing the alleged gang members won’t be showing up.
“It seems like security is more tight around here,” Hamza said Friday. “I’m really enjoying today so I hope that can go on for the rest of the State Fair. No issues and no problems have come up so that’s a big [win] for the fair.”
Livestream sparks debate
Concerns over gang activity resurfaced following a livestream hosted by Fletcher in mid-July where he connected shootings near the Quarry Shopping Center in northeast Minneapolis over the Fourth of July weekend to a dispute between what he called Somali gangs.
The livestream sparked a backlash over Fletcher’s singling out of Somali gangs.
The sheriff hosted a meeting on July 21 where hundreds of Somali parents and community members discussed solutions to the issue. But the sheriff has since received pushback from Somali community members, who said Fletcher was adding fuel to the hateful rhetoric spread by President Donald Trump and his supporters.
Fletcher told Sahan Journal at the fair on Friday that the atmosphere during the first few days of the fair this year has been relatively peaceful. Four young adults were arrested for disorderly conduct on the first day of the fair but it was “a very quick, short fight that ended without incident,” he said.
Suhayb said he doesn’t believe efforts by law enforcement and prosecutors to prevent the alleged gang members from gathering at the fair amount to singling out the entire Somali community because he’s seen many people who are innocent and unaffiliated become victims or casualties of violence.
He said he’s disappointed in the leaders of the Somali community, who he said will have meetings when an issue draws attention but don’t follow up when the spotlight recedes.
“I think Somali leaders are just trying to save face for themselves by saying we’re being targeted,” Suhayb said. “In my opinion, I feel like the leaders are not doing that much. They just make promises and they just move on.”
Hamza echoed Suhayb, and called on Somali leaders to engage the youth on their level instead of either ignoring the issue or solely criticizing their actions.
“If the leaders, their elders and their parents aren’t helping them but are criticizing them, they’re just going to go right back at it,” Hamza said, adding that elders and parents should talk to youth committing violence to learn the underlying reasons behind their behavior as a way to fix it.
“They should see where they’re coming from,” he said.
Siham said she’s sad that the actions of a few people are being used to paint the entire community as violent. At the same time, Somali community members are the main victims of the violence and the rhetoric it has spawned.
“It’s very bad for Somali families,” Siham said. “They’re bringing danger to their own families, other families and to everyone in Minnesota.”
Increased security presence, patrols
At the Mighty Midway this year, a team from Somali nonprofit Youth Legacy joined Ramsey County Sheriff’s deputies working to defuse potential conflict. Executive Director Mohamed Jama said Fletcher pulled up at 2 a.m. one night while his team was doing outreach work in Minneapolis, which led this year’s State Fair partnership.
“I see a lot of these kids daily, and that trusted relationship that I have with them goes a long way,” Jama said. “It just feels better for us who are people that we see everyday in the community, whether they’re in North Side, South Side, the suburbs, wherever they are, to engage with them and de-escalate with a friendly face.”
Credit: Dymanh Chhoun | Sahan Journal
Jama said another goal of his is to help deter racism and hateful rhetoric that Somali youth have been facing in recent weeks as the lawsuits and media coverage surrounding them have caused some to label all Somali youth as violent.
In the wake of the injunctions, the Republican Party of Minnesota said it had hired off-duty police officers to protect the party’s State Fair booth from gang activity or political violence. The Republican Party’s booth is located near the Agricultural Building at the fair, while law enforcement say potential confrontations between rival gang members is likely to happen near the Midway area.
At least one statewide Republican candidate appeared to add fuel to the fire at an Aug. 24 event in Blue Earth County called the Great Southern Minnesota Get Together. In an audio recording obtained by Sahan Journal, attorney general candidate Ron Schutz refers to the seven alleged gang members who made deals to avoid the fair as “terrorists.”
“Rest assured, the State Fair is going to be the safest State Fair ever because our attorney general sat down and negotiated with terrorists — I mean, I’m sorry, not terrorists — gang members,” Schutz is heard saying in the recording.
Jama said the use of that kind of terminology against Somali youth and labeling an entire community that way is extremely harmful. Youth violence is not just a Somali issue, he said, and he hopes his engagement work at the fair will make that clear.
“You see Somali lawyers, Somali doctors, nurses, machine operators, line workers, cooks, chefs, you name it,” Jama said. “We’re just like any other community, we’ve got all types of people so to use terminology that harms an entire group and to categorize them all in one way — that’s clear bias.”
