Fatal shooting in bar parking lot results in 15-year prison sentence

Farhan Hersi, 30, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Abdullahi Said Awil in the parking lot behind Bullwinkle’s Saloon, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Monday.

On August 15 of this year, Hersi, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Awil on August 31, 2017. On Thursday, Judge Kathryn Quaintance sentenced Hersi to 15-years in prison, the maximum under the sentencing guidelines.

In court last week, Awil’s mother gave an impact statement through an interpreter and said her son was a good son. “He was helpful to me and the community... My son is gone and will never return to me. Hersi will [still] see his family.” A victim advocate for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office also read a statement from the family, “Abdullahi was loving, caring, intelligent… He won’t get to raise his five-year-old daughter… Our family can never kiss or hug him. We pray you [Hersi] will never take anyone’s life again.”

According to the criminal complaint and testimony in court, Hersi admitted he and his friends had spent the night drinking and that he was drunk when he shot Awil multiple times in the parking lot behind Bullwinkle’s Saloon.

Before handing down the sentence, Judge Quaintance told Hersi, “You were black-out drunk and high. You didn’t know what was going on and you did not make smart choices.”