Judge to rule next week on injunctions aimed at preventing gang violence at Minnesota State Fair

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press on Aug 13, 2026

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — A judge is expected to rule next week on whether to grant injunctions that aim to bar two reputed street gangs from gathering at the upcoming Minnesota State Fair.

Prosecutors made their case Thursday in Ramsey County District Court during two separate hearings on why Somali gangs Muddy and The Ville should be considered a nuisance under state law and ordered through injunctions not to associate at the Fairgrounds and in nearby areas during the 12-day event and the morning afterward.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and Minnesota Attorney General’s Office filed civil complaints last week seeking the injunctive relief, a move that law enforcement officials say is needed to try to stop further violence from breaking out during the event.

“We are here today because of bravado, brawls and bullets between two rival criminal gangs — Muddy and The Ville,” said Assistant Attorney General Keaon Dousti in an opening statement before Ramsey County Chief Judge Sara Grewing.

Ramsey County Sheriff’s Deputy Ben Seidl, a gang investigator, testified about the criteria law enforcement uses to identify members of gangs, including “self-admission” and social media photos of them “throwing up a gang sign.”

Seidl spoke about the “organizational structure” of the two gangs and high-profile violent clashes between them over the last several years, including two brawls at the Fair in 2024 and 2025 and two shootings one night near the Fairgrounds in 2024.

Seidl told the court there have been recent social media threats of violence that mentioned this year’s Fair, including one that referenced “State fair bumps,” which is slang for violent altercations, and listed the two gangs and a few others.

Under state law, prosecutors must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a criminal gang constitutes a public nuisance.

The injunctions would run from 8 a.m. Aug. 27 until 6 a.m. Sept. 8 throughout the Fairgrounds and in a “buffer zone” that extends to Cleveland and Hamline avenues and approximately three blocks north of Larpenteur Avenue and three blocks south of Energy Park Drive.

It is a misdemeanor to violate an injunction.

Testimony and legal arguments will continue Wednesday at hearings that Dousti said will focus on the 10 purported gang members named in the civil complaints, and how the injunctions would be enforced.

Two men alleged to be Muddy gang members were in court Thursday, but did not speak. Afterward, one declined to comment on the proposed injunctions and said he was not a gang member.

Grewing said she would rule on the injunctions Thursday, “in part because that will give us a week until the opening of the State Fair, if there are parties that wish to file an emergency writ or additional motions for reconsideration.”

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