Two charged in Highway 100 gang drive-by shooting

Two young men with alleged ties to a west-metro street gang have been charged in Hennepin County with drive-by shooting and second-degree assault in a rush-hour attack that wounded a rival motorist on southbound Highway 100 in St. Louis Park on September 30.^[1]

Prosecutors say Ayub Abdirashiid Said, 19, and Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed, 20, opened fire from a vehicle at a white Honda Accord, hitting the car six times and striking the driver in the ankle, while a third man, previously charged driver Abdisalan Ali, allegedly sped them away from the scene.^[1] The complaint alleges the victims are members of the Muddy gang, while the three suspects are associated with rival SLP and "1300" gangs that investigators have also linked to other recent shootings in the west metro.^[1]

The September 30 highway ambush, described in charging documents as a targeted attack rather than random road rage, is the latest flashpoint in a rivalry between Muddy and SLP/1300 crews that police say has spilled across parts of St. Louis Park and nearby suburbs this year.^[1] According to detectives, that feud has already produced multiple retaliatory shootings, with investigators tracing guns, cars, and social media posts between incidents to build the case that the Highway 100 gunfire was part of a broader pattern of gang-on-gang violence rather than an isolated confrontation.^[1]

Local officials have periodically tried to separate these kinds of targeted gang shootings from wider political fights over policing, race, and national crime trends, arguing that a small number of repeat offenders and conflicts drive much of the gun violence. That view parallels national research highlighted by outlets such as The Atlantic, where analysts have pushed back on attempts to attribute pandemic-era homicide spikes wholesale to movements like Black Lives Matter and instead emphasize concentrated social and criminal dynamics in particular neighborhoods and networks.

1. FOX 9