On a late Friday night in February, the life of 20-year-old Ibrahim Faisal Dabarani of Minneapolis was cut tragically short. Just before 11:10 p.m. on February 28, 2025, Dabarani was fatally wounded while inside a car in Columbia Heights, in the vicinity of the 4200 block of Central Avenue NE. He was rushed to North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale by a private vehicle, but succumbed to his injuries a few minutes after midnight.
Hospital staff reported to law enforcement that a car had dropped Dabarani off and then quickly departed the scene.
The initial account of the event given to police by the driver, an 18-year-old man, was misleading. He claimed that he and Dabarani had been at the Yummy Bites coffee shop when Dabarani got out of the car to adjust his clothing, at which point a gunshot was heard. However, surveillance footage of the incident did not align with this story. The driver later recanted his statement and provided a truthful account of the evening's tragic turn of events. He admitted that he and Dabarani had picked up a 16-year-old, Abdihafed Mohamed Abdirisak, earlier that evening. While the three were driving, Abdirisak, who was in the back seat, was moving a gun from his backpack to his jacket. The firearm discharged, and the single shot struck Dabarani.
Following an investigation, police arrested Abdihafed Mohamed Abdirisak in Minneapolis. He was charged with second-degree manslaughter in Anoka County District Court. Initially, the county attorney's office signaled its intent to prosecute the teenager as an adult. Another man, 20-year-old Ayub Abdullahi Mohamed, was later charged with aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter for allegedly being the one who brought the rifle into the vehicle.
In August 2025, Abdihafed Mohamed Abdirisak pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dropped the motion to have him tried as an adult. While the defense argued the shooting was a tragic accident caused by Abdirisak's unfamiliarity with the weapon, and the judge accepted this argument, the court also noted the teen's actions following the shooting and his lack of remorse. Abdirisak was subsequently sentenced to four years in a juvenile correctional facility in Red Wing for his role in the death of Ibrahim Faisal Dabarani.
