Community pays respects to 5 young women killed in south Minneapolis crash
MINNEAPOLIS -- Mourners gathered at Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center Monday afternoon to say goodbye to five young women killed by a speeding driver late last week. The five were between the ages of 17 and 20, and their sudden deaths have left a community in shock.
More than 1,000 people came to pray and pay their respects. Following that, the five victims were buried at the Garden of Eden Islamic Cemetery in Burnsville. The solemn "Janazah," or funeral prayer, echoed across the packed grassy field. At one side, the five young women were at rest as many mourners wept.
On Sunday, the medical examiner confirmed the identities previously released by the Dar Al Farooq Center: Sabiriin Ali (17), Sahra Gesaade (20), Salma Abdikadir (20), Sagal Hersi (19) and Siham Adam (19). Ali was a recent graduate of Edina High School. Gesade was a junior at the University of MInnesota-Rochester. Abdikadir was a student at Normandale Community College, and also taught Sunday school. Hersi was a student at MCTC. And Adam was a student at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
It's been a heavy few days as the community grapples with this loss. Faith leaders credit the strength of the Muslim community and the Minnesota community.
The victims and their families are pillars of the mosque, and their death leaves a huge void. Mosque board member Abdulahi Farah says the five young women grew up at this mosque.
"The loss of these five beautiful individuals is a great loss, first and foremost for their families. I can not imagine. Being around them for the last couple of days, they have resilience and they have strength, but it's really really tough," he said.
Mosque director Khalid Omar says the loss is personal for so many of the mourners.
"We are very close and a lot of our families knew these beautiful daughters," he said.
Among those showing up Monday morning included leaders from Edina Public Schools, from where two of the victims recently graduated. Edina Public Schools superintendent Stacey Stanley promised the district will support the families impacted as best as they can, as younger siblings will continue to attend their schools.
"I'm a grandmother, I'm a mother and I can't imagine what it would be like to lose one of my children or one of my grandchildren in such a senseless way. And so I'm hurting. My heart is hurting. I hurt for the family and just really want to be here to support them," Stanley said.
Also among the mourners was a group of Minneapolis police officers, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Edina Mayor Jim Hovland.
Multiple people were treated for heat-related illnesses that were suffered at the funeral, according to Burnsville city officials, with the temperature at the time near 90 degrees.
According to the Minneapolis Police Department, a driver going about 100 mph exiting Interstate 35W went through a red light and hit the vehicle carrying the women at the intersection of Second Avenue and Lake Street around 10:15 p.m. Friday.
Minneapolis police aren't sharing much about the driver, but say it was a man they suspected was under the influence. WCCO News is not naming him until prosecutors charge him with a crime.
After the impact of the crash, police say he tried to run but was arrested nearby.
WCCO asked legal analyst Joe Tamburino about the possible charges the driver could be facing.
"The prosecution basically will have a choice between two types of charges," he said. "First, would be what's called murder in the third degree, that means you did something that was extremely dangerous, greater than regular negligence, and it has a high penalty, you can go to prison for up to 25 years per charge. And then you have the lesser charge, which is criminal vehicular homicide, that's when you cause a death based on your negligent driving. Now that's a lesser charge, you can't get more than 10 years for a charge. In that case, I would think something like this, where you have someone driving in such a way causing the death of five young women that the prosecutor would charge murder third degree."
There's been a lot of support so far for this shocking loss to the community. An online fundraiser has so far raised more than $340,000.