A Ramsey County sheriff’s warning about Somali gangs in the Twin Cities drew criticism from CAIR-MN and Minneapolis City Council Vice President Jamal Osman, even as one law enforcement officer said he is tracking 12 Somali gangs in the metro area and another called for “law enforcement, community members, and faith leaders” to work together on a solution.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher is facing pushback after using his social media show, Live on Patrol, to address what KSTP-TV described as a serious Somali gang problem in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

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KSTP-TV reported that Fletcher’s video received tens of thousands of views and prompted backlash from Somali community leaders. Reporter Ben Henry said the station had questions for Fletcher and was told the sheriff was available for an interview, but when the crew arrived at the sheriff’s office that morning, they were told he was not available.

In the video, Fletcher said, “Before you start fixing the problem, first you have to identify what it is. We got a huge list of criminal activity, but having said that, we’re not indicting the whole community.”

KSTP described Fletcher’s remarks as addressing Somali gang violence and reported that law enforcement officials were investigation weekend shootings in Minneapolis involving gang members. One shooting killed a man, while another wounded multiple people and reportedly involved automatic gunfire.

Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office Somali gang investigator Jama Shine said, “This needs to stop.”

Another officer said, “Right now, I’m tracking 12 different Somali gangs in the metro.”

A third officer showed KSTP video connected to the shootings and said, “You can hear the shots.”

Shine also stated, “We need to come together from law enforcement, community members, faith leaders, and find a solution for this youth,”

Suleiman Adan, deputy executive director of CAIR-MN, said “prevention and intervention and family engagement and sustained investment in youth must be central to any sort of long-term solution.”

“Anyone responsible for violent crimes should be held accountable,” Adan said.

But Adan took issue with Fletcher’s framing, saying, “To say that there’s a Somali gang problem” that requires the community to “raise the stakes and squash this” before it becomes a larger issue is “particularly dangerous.”

Minneapolis City Council Vice President Jamal Osman, who represents the 6th Ward, released a July 7 statement condemning Fletcher’s comments about Somali youth and gangs.

Osman said Fletcher’s remarks “painted Somali youth as the source of most, if not all, community violence” and went further by “attempting to connect local youth violence to terrorist organizations abroad.”

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Osman called that rhetoric “wrong” and “dangerous,” saying it targets an entire community, creates fear, and undermines public trust.

“Community violence is a serious issue, and it affects all of us,” Osman said. “But we cannot solve it by scapegoating one group of young people or by using fear to divide our neighbors.”

Osman said the root causes of violence include “years of disinvestment, poverty, lack of opportunity, social isolation, and systems that have failed too many families for too long.”

“This is not public safety leadership,” Osman said. “Real leadership means showing up with humility, listening to the people closest to the problem, and working together on solutions that protect everyone.”

Osman also said it was “not the first time” Fletcher had “singled out ethnic or racial communities,” adding that the pattern showed “a troubling willingness to sow division, stoke racial resentment, and speak about communities without the cultural understanding and care that public leadership requires.”

“Our Somali neighbors are an essential part of who we are,” Osman said. “Somali youth deserve investment, dignity, opportunity, and respect – not public officials using their platform to stereotype them.”

Breitbart News has reported extensively on the national CAIR organization, including that CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007-2008 Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial; that the FBI discontinued work with the organization after that case; that a federal judge in 2009 said the government had “produced ample evidence to establish” CAIR’s ties with Hamas; and that the United Arab Emirates labeled CAIR a terrorist organization in 2014, a decision opposed by the Obama administration.

In December 2023 that video emerged of the national organization’s executive director, Nihad Awad, saying he was “happy” about Palestinians in Gaza breaking through on October 7, the day Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 people in Israel and abducted more than 240 hostages.

Breitbart News also reported in 2019 that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) referred to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a day when “some people did something” during a keynote address at a private fundraiser for CAIR of Greater Los Angeles. Omar said in that speech that “CAIR was founded after 9/11,” though Breitbart News noted that CAIR was formed nationally in 1994 by Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmad, who were described as members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “Palestine Committee.”