MINNEAPOLIS (trfnews.i234.me) – Ameer Musa Matariyeh was charged in connection with a multi-county shooting incident that began on October 22. The charges include three counts of second-degree assault and one count of domestic assault.
The incident started at an apartment building in Minneapolis, where police were dispatched to reports of shots being fired from the balcony. A woman who lived in the apartment told officers she had been in a relationship with Matariyeh for two years and that he was her former boyfriend.
According to the criminal complaint, the woman said Matariyeh came to their home earlier on October 22, pushed down her current boyfriend, and put a gun to the back of her head. The couple then ran from the building, but Matariyeh allegedly went back inside and fired shots at them from the balcony.
Matariyeh eventually escaped, and crisis negotiators were able to reach him by phone while he was driving away from the scene. During these conversations, Matariyeh became upset and threatened to kill bystanders if he couldn’t speak with his former girlfriend.
The incident appears to have led to further violence when Matariyeh drove into Kandiyohi County in western Minnesota. He stopped at a rural farmstead where he shot a man in the chest before leaving that scene and attempting to carjack another motorist outside Willmar, fatally shooting 55-year-old Jerome Skluzacek.
Matariyeh is charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder in Kandiyohi County. He also faces charges related to an incident at his former girlfriend’s apartment building in Minneapolis.