Authorities in the town of #EdenPrairie, Minnesota, are looking into an incident in which a group of Somali teens were reportedly being harassed by a white man who they said then pulled a gun on them when he was confronted.
The incident, which took place Monday night, was captured in a now viral video and has left many outraged. In the video, when the visibly shaken teens tell the restaurant’s manager about the man with the gun, she orders them to leave anyway. Another patron argues with the manager, telling her she should be calling the police instead of kicking the teens out of the establishment. “Don’t just send them out there when the dude just pulled a f*****g gun out on them,” said the customer.
The 17-year-old girl involved, Jihan Abdullahi, told the @StarTribune she was trying to order on the app and it wasn’t working. “Once we gave up on paying, we just canceled the order,” Abdullahi continued, “and as [we] are walking away, the man says under his breath, ‘You were paying with EBT; that’s why it didn’t work.’ ”
Abdullahi said she responded, “ ‘Just because I’m black you think my friends and I live under EBT?’ And he reportedly said, ‘Yes.’ ” As other young people stepped in, “The man pulls out his gun and begins to say, ‘Whoa, whoa,’ and everyone backs up, and he runs out the door,” Abdullahi said.
In the video, the man somewhat backs up and out of the door, which is when the teens are seen quickly backing away from him and several people shouted that the man was holding a gun.
A police report said the man allegedly pulled the firearm from his waistband.
Police have yet to say whether they know the identity of the man and whether he had a state-issued permit allowing him to carry a firearm in public.
“Officers obtained video evidence and witness statements from the scene, and police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident to determine if a crime was committed,” according to a statement released by city officials.
We’ll keep you updated on the latest, #Roommates!
TSR STAFF: Christina C! @cdelafresh
