I have frequently highlighted Minnesota’s struggle to detain violent offenders, only to see them commit further preventable crimes after their release. The May 23, 2026, murder of 17-year-old Tyson Goodsell in Mankato is the most glaring example yet.
I spent several hours pulling together the criminal histories of the four charged defendants – Ryan Wolner (18), Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud (19), Abdikhadar Mohidin (20), and Ahmed Fuad Mohamud (23) – and the fact that these four young men were all out of custody on May 23rd is an outrage.
Given the variations in names and the fact that many of the violent crimes were charged as juvenile delinquency matters makes it difficult to ensure I have all the information. But what I have been able to gather demonstrates a court system that is seemingly unwilling to provide for public safety.
The Murder
On Saturday May 23rd, Ryan Wolner set out to rob a “plug” which is slang for a robbing a drug dealer.
He retrieved an AR 15 rifle that he stored at a friend’s house due to his previous crimes and enlisted the help of the Mohamuds and Mohidin. Wolner then set up a deal through a third party to meet Goodsell under that pretense of buying thousands of dollars’ worth of THC cartridges and marijuana from Goodsell. Mohidin agreed to be the gunman in the robbery, but when Goodsell saw Mohidin he tried to drive away. Mohidin shot six rounds into Goodsell’s car, fatally striking him in the head. This all happend in a North Mankato neighborhood, not in some vacant lot in the south side of Chicago.
The four suspects fled in two vehicles and took steps to hide murder weapons, and to discard cell phones and one of the cars used in the murder. Thankfully, the police methodically put the evidence together and have secured multiple charges against each of the defendants for their roles in Goodsell’s murder.
As of today, each of the four remain in the custody of either the Nicollet County Sheriff or the Blue Earth County Sheriff, pending trial.
Criminal Histories
Despite their ages, three of the defendants have criminals histories that include multiple violent felonies. In fact, Wolner, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud, and Mohidin were each on conditional release for serious violent felonies, including attempted murder and armed robbery, and were all wearing court mandated GPS tracking devices at the time of Goodsell’s murder. This case alone should call into question the lack of deterrence such conditional release practices have on proven violent offenders.
Wolner was out on bail for a November 2025 armed robbery that, despite the limited details available, has all the trappings of another drug related robbery. His court history includes six other cases, many involving illegal possession of firearms and drugs, and one harassment case in which Wolner was subjected to a restraining order because of his repeated threats towards his a probation officer.
Ryan Wolner (18)
Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud has multiple auto theft, drug, and firearm possession convictions, including carrying a handgun in his Mankato High School. Mohamud was also out on bail for a June 2025 attempted murder charge stemming from a drug deal robbery in which Mohamud shot a dealer with an AR 15 style rifle in an apartment building. The court had originally held him on $2 million dollar bail, but in August a judge reduced that amount to $500,000. Mohamud secured a bond for his release in April 2026, just over a month prior to Goodsell’s murder.
Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud (19)
Mohidin, the gunman who killed Goodsell, also has a significant criminal history that includes multiple auto thefts, drug thefts, damage to property, and assaults on law enforcement. Mohidin was also the subject of police calls for mental health concerns and was the subject of commitment proceedings in late 2024. The most significant case, however, involved Mohidin shooting a person during what reads like another drug robbery in Mankato on December 31st 2024. Mohidin secured a $250,000 bond for his release in early 2026, just months before killing Goodsell in a drug robbery.
Abdikhadar Mohidin (20)
Ahmed Fuad Mohamud, the eldest of the defendants, has the least serious criminal history consisting of mostly traffic related offenses, and a domestic assault.
Ahmed Fuad Mohamud (23)
The legalization of “adult recreational cannabis”
In 2023, the DFL led Minnesota Legislature legalized what it called “adult recreational cannabis,” better known as marijuana or pot. A major argument used in the debate was that legalization would eliminate the marijuana black market. I, and others, cautioned that this wasn’t the case in other states which had legalized marijuana. In fact, the black market in many of these states was larger than ever given the state sanctioned “approval” of possessing marijuana – and where there is a black market for drugs, there is violence.
Goodsell died selling THC cartridges to a group of thugs who have spent a considerable amount of their young adulthood robbing marijuana dealers. So much for taking the violence out of the marijuana trade.
The takeaways
There has been a sustained effort in the U.S. to reduce the number of pre-trial detainees held in jails. The argument used is that “the data” shows those who are conditionally released from jail by our courts are generally law abiding. The truth is, we don’t have good data on how law abiding those on conditional release are. But we do have ample anecdotal examples of violent offenders who have been released, only to commit more violence – violence that a serious criminal justice system should never have made possible.
Minnesota remains among the states with the lowest imprisonment rate and the highest community supervision rate in the country. Goodsell’s murder is yet another tragic example of why that policy decision isn’t serving Minnesota well.
Goodsell’s murder also speaks to the changes occuring in the greater Mankato area – changes I wrote about previously – you can read that article here.
Finally – there have many arguments made for legalizing drugs. As this case demonstrated, legalizing drugs does not eliminate the black market or the violence associated with that market.