Man pleads guilty to manslaughter for fatal Minneapolis apartment shooting

By KSTP

Mohamed Ahmed Said Zaher (Hennepin County Jail)

A man pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in exchange for a second-degree murder charge being dropped in the case of a fatal shooting that happened in a Minneapolis apartment back in August of 2022.

Mohamed Ahmed Said Zaher, 22, was accused of shooting and killing 31-year-old Ahmed Elsaied after police found him with blood splattered on his clothes and hands. Witnesses also reported seeing Zaher throw a handgun onto the top of a nearby building after hearing a gunshot and screams.

Details in the plea agreement show that Zaher admits to “recklessly handling a firearm with such force that such death was reasonably foreseeable.”

The plea agreement also shows that he will likely face a prison sentence within the range of 86 to 103 months (between seven and eight-and-a-half years.)

Zaher’s sentencing date is set for Jan. 8, 2024.

Police first responded to reports of a shooting at an apartment in downtown Minneapolis on 10th Street South and Marquette Avenue at around 7:45 p.m. on Aug. 7, 2022.

Officers then found Zaher in the apartment lobby with blood on his hands and clothes.

He initially claimed that he saw a man in a black mask run by before he found his friend, Ahmed Elsaied, with a gunshot wound to his head. Zaher also told police he had been staying in Elsaied’s apartment for several months.

The criminal complaint states that Zaher changed his story when confronted with witness accounts that contradicted his version of events. Zaher then said that he and Elsaied were in the apartment handing Elsaied’s handgun. When trying to pull the slide back, Zaher said he had his finger on the trigger, causing it to fire. Zaher also admitted to throwing the gun off the balcony and onto a nearby building.