Man Pleads Guilty In Fatal Shooting Behind Minneapolis Bar

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 30-year-old St. Paul man pleaded guilty Thursday to charges in connection to a fatal August 2017 shooting behind a Minneapolis bar.

Farhan Hersi pleaded guilty to unintentional second-degree murder in the Aug. 31, 2017, shooting of 24-year-old Abdullahi Awil.

Court documents state Hersi was in a car with Awil in the early-morning hours of Aug. 31, 2017, in the parking lot behind Bullwinkle's Saloon on the University of Minnesota West Bank.

Hersi admitted he and friends had spent the night drinking at several bars and that he was drunk. Awil was angry about rumors that Hersi might be dating one of his sisters, and said there would be trouble if that was the case.

Hersi said in court that he remembered taking that as a threat, being angry and grabbing a gun after Awil got out of the car. He said he doesn't remember firing the gun, but has no doubt that he killed Awil.

Hersi will be sentenced Oct. 30, and could face 10 to 15 years in prison.