2 charged in drive-by shooting that kills 1, injures 2

Published 11:42 am Monday, June 12, 2023

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Two Austin men are facing multiple charges for a drive-by shooting Friday night that killed one man and injured at least two others.

Manamany Omot Abella, 23, and Cham Obang Oman, 28, each face one count of second-degree murder with intent, one count of second-degree murder in a drive-by shooting, two counts of attempted murder in a drive-by shooting and one count of dangerous weapons-drive-by shooting toward a person.

Court documents state dispatchers received a report at 10:39 p.m. Friday of a car crash with injuries on Fourth Street Northwest. It was determined shortly after that the crash was the result of a drive-by shooting.

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When officers arrived at the scene, they found a man deceased in the driver’s seat, who had been shot repeatedly in the left side through the car door.

A second man was found sitting on the boulevard by a tree with a gunshot wound to his upper arm, and a woman had been shot in the abdomen. Police determined the these two people had also been in the vehicle at the time of the shooting and had exited the car after it crashed.

Both were transported to Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin via ambulance and later taken to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester.

The man stated he was seated behind the driver in the back seat and had no idea who had shot them and that he did not see the vehicle but heard the shots and then was shot in the shoulder.

He told police there were two other people in the vehicle, but those victims had not been found.

The woman in an interview told police they had left a residence at 711 Second St. NW in Austin and were going to follow Oman and Abella to pick something up. Oman was driving his white 2020 Dodge Durango with Abella when they pulled up alongside the other car and started shooting at them.

The woman said the car she was in went straight down the road, and even though she attempted to control the steering, it crashed into a house.

A motorcyclist, who was northbound on Fourth Street NW near the 500 block said he saw the vehicle crash into the house and saw the Durango stop in the intersection for a short time and then accelerate north at a high rate of speed.

The motorcyclist said he was concerned and followed the Durango north on Fourth Street, west on Seventh Avenue and then north on Fifth Street NW. Someone in the Durango then reportedly fired several shots at him before driving onto eastbound Interstate 90.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension crime scene team found numerous shell casings and one live round where the shooting began. The casings were in the middle of the street, which corresponds to the shooter firing from the passenger seat of the Durango into the victims’ car, court documents stated.

At least 12 rounds were found on the driver’s side of the victims’ car where the man who was killed was seated.

Mower County District Court Judge Natalie Martinez set unconditional bail at $1 million and conditional bail at $500,000 for Oman and unconditional bail at $1 million and conditional bail at $750,000 for Abella. Conditions for both men include signing a waiver of extradition; GPS monitoring; having no contact with the co-defendant, witnesses or victims; having no weapons; and no use of alcohol or chemicals, among other conditions.

Mower County Attorney Kristen Nelsen said she requested Abella’s conditional bail be higher because he was already on supervised release and had a warrant out for his arrest after slipping his GPS bracelet off last August.

Nelsen said she had significant public safety concerns and also commented about the seriousness of the charges.

Both men are next slated to appear in court at 10 a.m. June 26.