Burnsville man sentenced to 25½ years for fatally shooting another man at Eagan gas station

A Burnsville man received a 25½-year prison term Friday for the fatal shooting of another man outside an Eagan gas station in late 2021.

Sakaria Osman Ahmed, 32, was sentenced after a jury convicted him in May of second-degree murder in the death of 33-year-old Faisal A. Abukar on Dec. 18, 2021, at a gas station in the 1900 block of Silver Bell Road.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Ahmed is expect to serve the first 15 ¹⁄₂ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police were called to the Marathon gas station near the Shoppes of Cedar Grove just before 7 p.m. and found Abukar, who had been shot to the head. The Eagan man died the next day at a nearby hospital.

Witnesses reported seeing Ahmed flee toward the mall. Officers arrested him within minutes and found a loaded 9-millimeter handgun in his pocket.

A witness later told investigators that he and Abukar drove to the gas station to meet with two other men. Upon arrival, a passenger in the waiting vehicle got into the back seat of Abukar's vehicle, where he got into an argument over the position of the seat.

The men exited the vehicle, a struggle ensued and Ahmed fired one shot that killed Abukar.