1 of 2 victims was with family outside Wayzata graduation at Mariucci when shot in head, charges say

A 20-year-old man allegedly opened fire with a rapid-fire handgun and shot two people outside the University of Minnesota’s Mariucci Arena right after Wayzata High School’s graduation concluded, according to charges filed Monday.

Hamza Abdirashid Said of Coon Rapids was charged in Hennepin County District Court with first- and second-degree assault, and illegal gun possession in connection with the shooting about 8 p.m. Saturday.

Said remained jailed in lieu of $300,000 bail ahead of a court appearance Tuesday afternoon. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

The charges filed Monday did not point to a motive. However, the charges noted that several males clashed shortly before the gunfire. According to a statement to families and staff on Sunday from Wayzata schools Superintendent Chace B. Anderson, “we have not been able to confirm any connection between the shooter or the second victim [a young man] and our graduation ceremony.”

The criminal complaint pointed out that “investigators have yet to determine whether [Said] was inside the graduation ceremony prior to the shooting.”

The charges said a man, described by U police as 49 years old, was shot in the head while outside the arena with family members. The second victim, 19, was shot in the leg. Officials have said both victims were expected to survive.

The complaint said that the Glock 17, a 9-millimeter handgun used by Said, was illegally modified with a “switch,” a device that allows the weapon to fire multiple shots with a single pull of the trigger.

Mariucci hosts graduation ceremonies for many Twin Cities high schools every year and has several more on the docket in the coming days.

In a post on X, Gov. Tim Walz called the shooting “horrific” and said the state “stands ready to help in any way we can.”

According to the charges, campus police raced to the arena after witnesses reported hearing at least two gunshots.

Officers saw the older victim with a gunshot wound to the head and bleeding heavily. Even so, the man was able to say “he was standing outside with his family after the graduation ceremony [and] observed a group of males fighting or having an argument behind him,” the complaint read.

He said he heard one gunshot and began running with his family away from the group of males.

Within roughly 20 yards of fleeing, the man continued, he felt a burning sensation on his head, realized he had been shot and collapsed.

Officers tracked down the younger victim and saw he was shot in the right thigh. While receiving emergency medical attention from the officers, the charges said, he “was not cooperative” with their effort to find out more about the shooting.

University surveillance video captured Said and other males running from the arena entrance before Said raised the front of his black gown, reached to his waistband and extended his hand toward the 19-year-old.

At that point, the young man changed direction just as Said fired multiple rounds. The gunfire sent people “ducking and running,” the complaint continued.

Said vaulted bushes and continued running from the scene still wearing the gown, a “traditional Somali garment and not the graduation ceremony clothing,” the complaint noted.

The gunman stashed the gun in bushes on one side of Williams Arena and his gown on the other side. Officers soon found both items.

Police caught up to Said not long afterward on foot nearby and arrested him.