Man charged with shooting Minneapolis mosque worshiper reportedly had been selling drugs nearby

Prosecutors have charged a Shakopee man with shooting at two mosque worshipers Monday, wounding one and forcing the other to dive to the ground for safety.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Yancy Hall, 68, with drive-by shooting and two counts of second-degree assault.

Hall appeared in court Friday and was expected back in court on Oct. 7. He remained jailed.

According to charging documents, authorities were investigating Hall for drug violations when worshipers found him selling drugs near the Masjid An-Nur mosque on Lyndale Avenue in the city’s Near North neighborhood.

When police arrived at the scene of the shooting, they found people helping a 75-year-old man bleeding from a gunshot wound in his arm and two in his shoulder. Used bullet cartridges littered the ground nearby.

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

Another worshiper said the suspect was just a few feet away when at least five shots were fired. He said he had to dive to the ground for safety.

Authorities said surveillance video shows Hall’s SUV stopped near the mosque’s parking lot entrance for 20 minutes as a number of people approached and left his vehicle. The video appears to show Hall driving onto Lyndale before turning around and stopping in front of the mosque. Five gunshots ring out, and a person is seen diving behind a vehicle before the SUV flees the scene.

Authorities learned the next day that Hall was being tracked as part of a drug investigation. That tracker placed his SUV at the mosque during the shooting and the leaving the area.

When police arrested Hall on Wednesday, he reportedly admitted to shooting the 75-year-old. He said he is familiar with the area because he “sells dope” there and confirmed that the victim approached his vehicle and told him to leave.

Hall reportedly said he shot the victim out of anger after hearing the man say he would kill him if he returned.

The shooting was the latest crime affecting mosque worshipers in Minnesota. Jaylani Hussein, executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Minnesota, said the state is the only in the nation to record nearly a half-dozen attacks against mosques this year.

Days before the shooting, the Dar Al-Qalam mosque in Minneapolis received more than a dozen threatening calls.

“When hate happens, the first thing you should do is just be responsive,” Hussein said. “There is a sense of duty to respond when a community is hurting and feeling unsafe. So it’s not like we’re asking people to do anything new, we’re just asking them to give us the courtesy that they would give any other community.”

Staff columnist Myron Medcalf contributed to this story.