Former Minnesota state trooper John Nagel says Somali gang violence in the Twin Cities will keep spiraling under soft-on-crime Democrats, and he asks where Rep. Ilhan Omar is.
John Nagel, a 30-year veteran of the state patrol now running as the Republican against Rep. Ilhan Omar in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, told Fox News Digital that a recent string of gang-linked shootings shows Democrats have emboldened criminals instead of stopping them.
Two teens were shot outside an Eden Prairie High School football game this month. In a Bloomington neighborhood, authorities recovered more than 100 shell casings. Residents are left fearing for their safety while political leaders stay quiet, Nagel said.
Nagel put the blame squarely on the state’s Democratic leadership and on Omar, who represents the district covering much of the Twin Cities area. He is on the midterm ballot against Omar and independent DeVelle Jackson.
The retired state trooper challenging Ilhan Omar argued that soft policies have removed the consequences that once kept gangs in check.
Nagel zeroed in on the congresswoman’s absence from the response.
He said:
"Where is Ilhan Omar in all of this?"
Nagel continued that a representative for the area should appear at community meetings, issue statements, or sit down with local officials to ask how to stop the violence. “And I don’t see her,” he said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Omar’s office for comment, along with the offices of Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison. No responses appear in the reporting.
Nagel tied the violence to years of Democratic control in Minnesota. Gang members and ordinary crooks alike “are emboldened by this,” he said, because politicians restrain police and send non-officers to handle crime problems that require arrests.
“They’re being restrained by politicians, people that are trying soft on crime, people that are trying to send somebody other than a police officer to take care of issues, and it’s not working,” Nagel said.
He rejected the idea that most Democrats truly oppose enforcement. “The people do,” he answered. “They’re tired of it.”
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher addressed the same problem at a news conference this week. He said a “big chunk of the problem” is the failure to hold gang members accountable and called on Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s office to be more “aggressive” when prosecuting juveniles.
Fletcher pushed back against broad “East African” labels. “98% of these gang members are Somali,” he said, adding that the wider term is not fair. “I think we just have to say what it is and not run away from the term.”
Nagel agreed the issue is not prejudice. “I mean, we have Latino gangs and Asian gangs and Black gangs, and we have Somali gangs. This is not being prejudicial,” he said. He called it a “Somali problem” simply because that is “who’s showing up.”
“It’s ridiculous,” Nagel added. “I’m a police officer. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what color you are.”
His warning matches earlier comments from the ex-trooper challenging Omar on Twin Cities gang violence that only a real crackdown will reverse the trend.
On Friday, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s office charged 18-year-old Adam Abdihakeem Adam with two counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and second-degree riot in the Eden Prairie homecoming football game shooting.
Moriarty stated:
"Mr. Adam will be held accountable. Violence in our communities is completely unacceptable, and it requires a professional, coordinated response, which happened here."
Her office offered a different picture on the Bloomington shell-casing incident. Spokesperson Daniel Borgertpoepping said no cases from that neighborhood shooting had been submitted for charging consideration. If they are submitted, “they’ll be thoroughly reviewed,” he said.
Nagel was unimpressed by the overall record. He accused Democrats, including Moriarty, of keeping their “heads in the sand” while violence spreads into the suburbs.
He rejected calls for new laws or more funding for advocacy groups. “We don’t need to pass any more laws,” Nagel said. “We don’t need any more people asking for money to help their group. We need to take the laws that we have and prosecute people.”
His prescription was simple and direct:
"We need enforcement, we need arrests and we need incarceration. Otherwise, this is going to continue to spiral."
Nagel has also pointed to broader accountability questions surrounding Omar, including the ongoing criminal investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar on immigration fraud allegations.
Eden Prairie and Bloomington sit in the Twin Cities metro, the same region Omar represents in Congress. The shooting outside a high school football game and the recovery of more than 100 casings in a residential neighborhood show the violence is no longer confined to a few city blocks.
Nagel argued that police know how to handle gangs when politicians allow them to do the job. He floated a dedicated gang task force as one practical step, but insisted the core need is consistent arrests and lockup time.
Omar has faced separate federal scrutiny, with reporting that the federal probe into Ilhan Omar centers on citizenship paperwork questions. She has denied aspects of that scrutiny even as investigators continue their work.
In the meantime, the congresswoman has not been quoted addressing the Eden Prairie shooting, the Bloomington casings, or Fletcher’s call for tougher juvenile prosecutions. Walz and Ellison likewise offered no public response in the available reporting.
Nagel’s campaign centers on the gap between Democratic rhetoric and street reality. Voters in the 5th District will decide in the upcoming midterms whether the current approach has failed.
Separate coverage has noted that Ilhan Omar denies federal contact while an ICE-linked criminal investigation proceeds, adding to the accountability questions already facing her office.
Minnesota parents watching shell casings pile up outside high school games do not need another task force study or funding announcement. They need the laws already on the books enforced without apology or political hesitation.
