Man's clothing incriminated him in Minneapolis Target parking lot killing, charges say
Update (Oct. 21, 2024): Charges against Barqalde Abdullahi Barqalde have been dismissed.
MINNEAPOLIS — A man accused of fatally shooting another man in a Minneapolis Target parking lot initially told police the decedent was "acting crazy" and shot himself, but his clothing betrayed his alibi, investigators say.
Twenty-year-old Barqalde Abdullahi Barqalde is charged with second-degree murder in the killing, according to Hennepin County court documents filed Thursday.
A reported shooting brought police to the Target at 1650 New Brighton Boulevard Monday. Officers found a 19-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the chest and a handgun nearby. The man was hospitalized and later died.
Officers detained Barqalde, who was at the scene and told police the victim's wounds were self-inflicted, the complaint states.
Police reviewed surveillance footage, which showed Barqalde and the victim "fall out a Tesla" and fight in the parking lot, according to the complaint.
"Within moments, you see victim stop moving, hunch over and fall to the ground," the complaint states.
Barqalde told police he was driving the Tesla, and the victim was "playing with a gun."
Officers noticed the pocket of Barqalde's hoodie "had been blown apart and there appeared to be a bullet hole in his jacket, suggesting that the gun was fired from inside the hoodie pocket with the bullet going through his coat and into victim."
Barqalde is in custody.
The gun found at the scene was also involved in a killing in St. Paul on the first day of the new year, the complaint states. Police spoke to someone "associated with the gun," who said he gave it to Barqalde, investigators said.
The St. Paul Police Department confirmed the gun was connected to the city's first homicide of the year, which occurred at a home on the 1600 block of Van Buren Avenue.
"Evidence from our homicide scene is linked to the gun recovered in Minneapolis, but what role this gun played in our homicide is yet to be determined," a department spokesperson said. "There is a possibility that more than one gun was used in our homicide, but this all remains under investigation."
SPPD is asking anyone with information about that shooting to call 651-266-5650.