Mohamed Hassan

Mohamed Hussein Hassan, a 20-year-old Black man from Columbia Heights, was a security guard described by his family as a beautiful and beloved son and brother. He was the youngest of four children, and his mother’s world was shattered by his sudden death.

In the early morning of July 17, 2021, Hassan was in a parking ramp in downtown Minneapolis. The incident happened around 3 a.m. near the intersection of Sixth Street North and Hennepin Avenue. According to a criminal complaint, Hassan was with his brother and looking at his phone when two men approached them. One man pointed a handgun at Hassan from the front, while the other walked past and pointed a handgun at him from behind. Hassan reportedly reached into his bag before raising his hands in the air as if to surrender. The man behind him then fired a single shot, striking Hassan in the back.

When police officers arrived, they found Hassan on the ground near the entrance of the ramp with no pulse. They administered CPR until paramedics arrived and transported him to Hennepin County Medical Center. He was pronounced dead there at 3:20 a.m. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner later confirmed his cause of death was a gunshot wound to the torso.

A police officer near the scene saw a man running from the area and pursued him. The man was caught and taken into custody, and a handgun was recovered. The suspect was identified as Troy Lierre Fowler, a 30-year-old from Brooklyn Park.

Fowler was subsequently charged with two counts of second-degree murder. According to charging documents, Fowler admitted to shooting Hassan. He claimed that Hassan had bumped into him at the Union bar earlier that night. However, Hassan’s brother, who witnessed the shooting, told investigators that while Fowler’s group had been “muggin’” them at the bar, there had been no physical contact between the two groups. The latest development in the case was the filing of charges against Fowler in July 2021.