69-year-old drug dealer who shot worshiper outside Twin Cities mosque gets long prison term

A 69-year-old has received a 12-year term for shooting and wounding one of two worshipers he targeted as they left a Twin Cities mosque.

Yancy Hall of Shakopee was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis after pleading guilty to firing a gun during a drug deal and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

“Everyone in Minnesota deserved the ability to practice their religion free from violence and threats of violence,” Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa Kirkpatrick said in a statement. “The attack by Hall on two congregants was vicious, violent and unacceptable.”

Ahead of sentencing, the prosecution pushed, in writing, for a 15-year sentence.

Defense attorney Kevin DeVore asked in a filing for a 10-year term, “which is a significant amount of time for anyone, especially for someone who is 69 years old.”

Hall also was charged in Hennepin County District Court in the shooting, but that case was dropped in favor of federal prosecution.

According to the charges in both courts:

Law enforcement was investigating Hall for drug violations when worshipers found him selling narcotics near the Masjid An-Nur mosque on Lyndale Avenue in the city’s Near North neighborhood.

Police were alerted to gunfire, arrived at the scene and found people helping a 75-year-old man bleeding from a gunshot wound in his arm and two in his shoulder.

As the man was taken to a hospital, he told police he was leaving evening prayer when he told Hall he could not sell drugs there. He said Hall drove away in a white SUV, then made a U-turn and started shooting.

Another worshiper said Hall was just a few feet away when at least five shots were fired. The worshiper said he dove to the ground for safety.

Surveillance video showed Hall’s SUV stopped near the mosque’s parking lot entrance for 20 minutes as people approached and left his vehicle. The video appeared to show Hall driving onto Lyndale before turning around and stopping in front of the mosque. Five shots rang out, and a person was seen diving behind a vehicle before Hall drove off.

When police arrested Hall soon afterward, he admitted shooting the 75-year-old.

In October 2023, law enforcement searched Hall’s two residences and his vehicle. Seized were three guns, more $75,000 in cash, and a large amount of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine.

After he leaves prison, Hall will be on supervised release for three years.

Kyeland Jackson of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this report.