Five charged in Minneapolis woman's killing

November 30, 2004

Moments after Yasmin Geelle was slain in her Minneapolis apartment in a drug-related robbery, there was dissension among her assailants.

Abdisalam A. Hussien, 28, of St. Louis Park, had promised his conspirators that it would be an "easy mission" to steal drugs and money from two women, a criminal complaint filed Monday recounts a witness saying.

But as the men fled the scene of the shooting Nov. 9, Fuad M. Dhuuh angrily told one of the conspirators, "You did it too fast. ... We could have done this easily," the complaint said.

The reply, a witness told investigators, was "I killed the woman."

Hussien, Dhuuh and three others are charged with murder in connection with Geelle's death. The other woman in the apartment was not hurt.

The men were drawn to Geelle's apartment, in the 500 block of S. 10th St. in the Downtown West neighborhood, because they knew khat, a leafy mild narcotic, was being sold there.

Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar said she believes it to be the first murder case in Minnesota involving khat.

"Whatever the drug, the message is the same: Wherever you find illegal drugs, you'll also find people with guns who are greedy."

Abdishakur Haji said that his half sister didn't sell the drug, but that she ran with people who did. "We used to tell her to stop this," said Haji. "I used to say, 'This is not your position.' "

He moved here from Texas in 1997 to be closer to his sister, who was originally from Somalia. She had hoped to apply for citizenship next year.

On the night his sister was shot, Haji was supposed to call her to plan their celebration dinner for Eid-al-Fitr -- the traditional end of Ramadan -- but after working a long shift at his restaurant job, he fell asleep. A friend woke him with a phone call.

"I thought you were going to the hospital," the friend said. "Your sister's been shot."

Haji ran to the Hennepin County Medical Center, covering the few blocks from his home to the hospital in his stocking feet in less than 10 minutes. His sister was not there, or at any other hospital he called. The friend rang again.

"I'm sorry, Haji, your sister is dead," the friend said.

Hussien, Dhuuh, 22, of Burnsville, and the other men -- Abdisalam L. Roble, 19, of Brooklyn Park; Abdisalan M. Abdi, 22, and Ismail M. Ali, 20, both of Minneapolis -- are each charged with one count of second-degree murder.

Although only one of them is accused of using the gun -- a witness identified Ali as the shooter -- all are charged with murder because they all were involved in the robbery that resulted in Geelle's death, Klobuchar said.