New Update: Convicted Murderer Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for Killing Young Grand Forks Woman

GRAND FORKS, ND (trfnews.i234.me) An immigrant from somalia, Ahmed Abdullahi of East Grand Forks was sentenced to 35 years in prison today under a plea deal, where he plead guilty to the murder. He will face deportation after his sentence is served.
ahmed abdullahi a former east grand forks resident has now been sentenced to 60 years in prison with 25 suspended here in grand forks county district court he used to serve 35 years in prison for the murder of megan gustafson in september of last year in grand forks for background on this case here’s our story from last september a class double a charge of murder has been filed against ahmed abdullahi in that early sunday morning shooting in grand forks the victim has been identified as megan gustafson according to the criminal complaint quote on september 12th at approximately 1 32 a.m officers from the grand forks police department were dispatched to an apartment this is on the 1300 block of 8th avenue north for suspicious activity call in regard to a separate investigation when officers arrived they knocked on the apartment door and spoke to megan gustafsson officers then walked away shortly thereafter an argument could be heard coming from inside the residence the front door opened megan gustafson was observed inside the apartment door with her back toward the street ahmed abdullahi was observed in the door facing megan gustafsson an officer heard a single gunshot in the direction of megan gustafson and ahmed abdullahi officers heard megan gustafson scream and then observed her run into the lawn and fall to the ground abdullahi walked out of the apartment holding a handgun in his hand officers were able to secure and detain abdullah he was in possession of a taurus nine millimeter handgun which was reported stolen from a vehicle in grand forks in september of 2020 officers observed gut megan gustafsson to have a gunshot wound to her chin neck area officers began life-saving measures uh megan gustafson was transported to altru hospital where she was later pronounced deceased now today in court several family members and friends made victim statements before sentencing here’s some of that why is the state’s attorney not offering such high sentence deals that they won’t take it so it can go to trial like in the case of the murder police officer his killer got life without parole which he deserved is megan’s life worth any is megan’s life worth any less it seems like that’s what the state thinks so your honor i’m asking you and i’m begging you to throw this deal out and give megan the justice she deserves especially for her daughter olivia who has to grow up without her mom this murderer deserves no less than life without parole but we never get to do anything with her anymore except go to a graveyard and see her i see you every night killing my granddaughter every night i watch it and i’ve told everybody it doesn’t go away you understand that it doesn’t go away i miss her i think about her but you know i wish she was still here i’m so sorry i don’t know what i did i wish i could bring your daughter back well i’m sorry i don’t know what happened and you’re asked who is affected most by what has happened and your answer was you because you’re in jail and you have to think about it no i didn’t say that well that’s what’s in the report okay buddy say that not the man whose car he stole not the man who you held up at gunpoint not the woman who is now dead not her family uh not the nine-year-old who is never going to see her mom again and um i’ve read a lot of pre-sentence investigation reports that’s one of the uh most preposterous things i’ve ever seen for you to think that and so i agree with the family when when they say it feels like you haven’t shown any remorse i don’t punish people just because they don’t show remorse that’s not one of the sentencing factors but i can consider your attitude uh in history uh whether i consider whether or not you’re unlikely to commit another crime and whether or not the result is of circumstance is not likely to reoccur and and from what i see in the in the pre-sentence investigation where your attitude would not support the court making of finding that these things are unlikely to reoccur i’m not sure if you understand what you did fully sir i mean i know you understand where you’re at and what’s happening but i’m not sure what you understand what you took away from those people they’re never ever going to get that person back ever you’ve got a history of criminal conduct that’s only been increasing since you turned 18. terroristic threats obstruction of law enforcement multiple convictions for disorderly conduct simple assault theft another theft another theft another assault theft terrorizing fleeing from law enforcement at least two probation revocations in north dakota and minnesota you’ve been in domestic violence programming in the past you were kicked out because he didn’t follow through with that um this whole thing is just senseless and just more violence and i am not granting your request to dva downward from the plea agreement there’s no chance i’m doing that when i look through these factors um every one of them supports the the plea agreement that was reached the proposed sentence your conduct certainly caused serious harm there’s no way you could not understand that walking around with a gun and attempting to rob someone and then running to somebody’s house would cause or could cause serious harm to that person there was no provocation for you to do this there were no legal grounds which would justify your conduct you can say you were drunk and stoned but that’s not an excuse for doing anything like this not an excuse for doing anything frankly but in particular not acting this way and doing the things he did there’s no way you can make restitution to this family even with the agreed upon amount of restitution that’s nothing there’s nothing to them you’re never going to give them back what they have lost i’ve already talked about your prior history and your attitude which would indicate to the court um the opposite that is unlikely that you would commit another crime do not uh respond well to probation you’ve already been on probation and your probation’s been revoked twice there’s really no mitigating factors here that would support me making a downward departure so the issue really is whether or not i accept the plea agreement as is proposed despite the fact that the family would like to see you go away forever and never never get out again and i understand why the family is asking for that thing is there’s nothing i can ever say or do that’s going to give you folks back what you lost and and i don’t say that lightly i really don’t um but there is nothing that i’m going to do that’s going to feel like justice for you and i know that um there’s value in having the case closed in the in the in the sense that um everybody doesn’t have to live through a trial and relive what happened again i’m certain the state has considered the evidence that they have and what they can present and what would be presented at trial and any possible defenses that the defendant may have no doubt they have an understanding of what evidence they can provide to the court i have to note as well that the proposed plea agreement is consistent with or perhaps even a bit more severe than other similar cases now i realize there are some cases where people get life and some people some cases where people get five years and understand that but the proposal is generally consistent with sentences that are handed down for a case like this and again i realize that’s no consolation to anybody because um your world was shattered i understand that um i’m going to accept the terms of the plea agreement agreements according to it i want you to understand mr abdullahi and i’m sure your attorney has advised you this and i believe i went through it with you when you entered your guilty plea um you will have to serve 85 percent of the proposed in this case before you would even be eligible for parole you understand that yes sir and there are minimum mandatory sentences on the uh the murder charge and the robbery church they’re four years they’re far eclipsed by what the plea agreement is but just to be aware they’re in there you understand that as well yes sir in case number 18 2021 cr 2047 count one sentence will be 60 years with the north dakota department of corrections with 25 years suspended what’s your reaction to the sentence i don’t agree with it you know you should get life without parole i mean really he should be dead but you know all right well they did say what mid 50s he gets out and then deported that’s what they say but i just don’t agree with it yeah it’s uh you know he got chance after chance after chance he got slapped on the wrist every time all right uh to me this is just another slap on the wrist he should get life without parole there’s no i’m neil carlson reporting for inews dot tv