Man charged with shooting Minneapolis mosque worshiper reportedly had been selling drugs nearby

Prosecutors have charged a Shakopee man with firing at two mosque worshipers Monday, wounding one and forcing another to dive to the ground for safety.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Yancy Hall, 68, with drive-by shooting and two counts of second-degree assault. Hall, who was in custody, appeared in court Friday and is expected back in court on Oct. 7.

Charging documents say that authorities were investigating Hall for narcotics violations when worshipers caught him selling narcotics near their mosque.

Minneapolis police responded to the Aug. 19 shooting near the Masjid An-Nur mosque on Lyndale Avenue in the city’s Near North neighborhood. They found people helping a 75-year-old man bleeding from one gunshot wound in his arm and two in his shoulder. Used bullet cartridges littered the ground nearby.

As the victim was transported to the hospital, he told officers that he was shot by a man in a white SUV after leaving evening prayer at the mosque. He said that after he told the suspect he could not sell drugs in the area, the man drove away, then made a U-turn and started shooting.

Another worshiper who was nearly shot said the suspect was just a few feet away when at least five shots were fired, forcing him to dive for safety.

Surveillance footage supports their statements, according to authorities. Video shows Hall’s white SUV sitting near the mosque’s parking lot entrance for 20 minutes as a number of people approach and leave his vehicle. The footage appears to show Hall driving onto Lyndale before turning around and stopping in front of the mosque. Five gunshots ring out and one person is seen diving behind a vehicle before the SUV flees the scene.

Authorities learned the next day that Hall was being tracked for a narcotics investigation. That tracker placed his white SUV at the mosque during the shooting and leaving the area at the time he reportedly fled.