Teen to be prosecuted as adult in Brooklyn Park shooting that killed 16-year-old cousins

A Hennepin County judge has ordered a 17-year-old murder suspect to stand trial as an adult for his alleged role in a shooting last Halloween that killed two 16-year-old cousins.

Court documents show Courtney Lesean Parker is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Chardid Farah and Diriye Muhumed in Brooklyn Park.

According to a criminal complaint, Brooklyn Park police responded to a reported shooting just after 5 p.m. near the intersection of Zane Avenue and Zane Court. Two boys — Farah and Muhumed — were found shot; Muhumed was pronounced dead at the scene, and Farah was taken to the hospital but died three days later.

A caller had reported hearing gunshots and seeing three people running away from the area.

Investigators determined Parker and another suspect, 16-year-old Jaqual Sims-Miller, had shot the victims.

Officers recovered Muhumed’s cellphone from the murder scene and found a text conversation with Sims-Miller that had started the day before the shooting. The two were arguing over a missing gun, and they had both threatened each other, the complaint states. The last text in the conversation was sent roughly four hours before the shooting.

Evidence shows Muhumed and Farah went to Sims-Miller’s home to meet him and Parker. Prosecutors allege Parker hit Muhumed in the head with a gun and then shot him in the chest; Sims-Miller, meanwhile, shot Farah, the complaint states.

Prosecutors filed a juvenile petition against Sims-Miller in November, charging him with two counts of aiding and abetting second-degree murder. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 17. A judge ordered him to serve four and a half years of supervised probation, staying a prison sentence of almost 22 years.

Parker’s first court appearance is set for Wednesday.