The backstory behind the killer of hero cop Jamal Mitchell
It turns out that Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed, the killer of hero Minneapolis police officer Jamal Mitchell, should not have had a gun or been on the street in south Minneapolis on May 30.
Mohamed killed Mitchell on Blaisdell Avenue, in addition to a civilian, Osman Said Jimale, in a nearby apartment. In the street shootout with Mitchell last week, two first responders and two civilians were wounded.
We’ve already covered Mr. Mohamed’s four previous felony convictions (including a Federal gun charge) which meant he could not legally possess a firearm.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Mohamed was also charged in a 2010 Federal sex-trafficking case filed in Nashville, TN (later dismissed). He was one of 29 individuals charged in that case. The November 2010 indictment references three Somali criminal gangs based in Minneapolis.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press originally reported on the Nashville case back in 2010 (headline “29 charged in bust of sex slave ring tied to 3 Minneapolis gangs”). Mohamed was defendant No. 20 in that case. The 2010 Pioneer Press article lists names and ages for 29 of the defendants in the case.
Mohamed is mentioned on page 21, paragraph 60 of the indictment. At the time of this incident, Jane Doe Four was over 18,
[Sidenote: Defendant No. 26 in the 2010 Nashville case shares the same name and age, Haji Osman Salad, as Defendant No. 31 in the Feeding Our Future case. It is not known whether the two men are the same individual. Regardless, the Nashville case was eventually dismissed.]
By all rights, Mr. Mohamed should have been behind bars arising from an unresolved 2022 state felony gun possession charge.
In August 2022, Mohamed was arrested after being spotted at the scene of an apparent robbery in downtown Minneapolis, carrying a semiautomatic pistol. He was not charged with the robbery, but was facing up to 15 years in prison on the gun charge. He was released a few days later after posting a bond for $35,000.
At a September 2022 court hearing, Judge Julie Allyn ruled that Mohamed would no longer be subject to electronic home monitoring (GPS ankle monitor), a move to which the prosecution did not object. Mohamed failed to appear at his next hearing, which was scheduled for November 2022. A warrant was issued for his arrest. His bond was forfeited.
In a series of court filings covering more than a year, his bail bond company reported periodically on their efforts to locate Mr. Mohamed and keep their $35,000. Despite reports placing him in the Riverside Plaza area, he was never apprehended. The bail bond company suggested that Mohamed’s immediate family was concealing knowledge of his whereabouts.
The case was reassigned to a different judge in November 2023. After having granted several extensions, the state ordered the bail bond company to make good on the $35,000 bond.
The warrant for his arrest was still active when Mohamed encountered Officer Mitchell on the street last week.
As for Mohamed’s other victim, Osman Said Jimale, age 32, little in Jimale’s background would have foreshadowed his ultimate fate. In his juvenile days he was found delinquent in a series of cases involving auto thefts.
Since turning 18, his law enforcement encounters consisted mostly of parking and traffic violations. A few minor loitering and trespassing cases pop up. His only adult felony charge (later dismissed) arose from a 2021 incident where he allegedly smashed a big screen TV in a drunken rage at the RAS lounge on West 7th Street in St. Paul.
Local media reports: