Alleged “Getaway Driver” in Downtown Rochester Mugging Now Facing Charges

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- A second suspect has been charged in connection with a downtown Rochester mugging. 

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The robbery sent the victim to the hospital. Court documents say he told Rochester police the assailants stole $1,000-$2,000 in cash from him. 

Investigators suspect four people of being involved in the robbery. The complaints say all four suspects were seen outside of Kathy’s Pub with the victim. 

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Two of the suspects were seen entering a vehicle. A surveillance camera captured footage of the victim and one of the suspects walking west on 3rd St. SW around 1:45 a.m. on October 3. 

A second person is then seen coming up behind the victim and punching him after the first suspect grabbed hold of the victim as the three were in front of the 318 commons building, the charges say. 

The suspects then fled north and got into the vehicle the two other suspects previously entered, the court document says.

Investigators identified one of the individuals suspected of assaulting and robbing the victim as 23-year-old Mohamed Ahmed Abdi of Rochester. 

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Abdi made his first court appearance Wednesday after being arrested during a traffic stop near the Olmsted County Government Center in downtown Rochester early Tuesday morning. 

Court documents say the vehicle Abdi was riding in Tuesday morning was the same vehicle he and the other suspect were seen entering after the alleged robbery. 

Alleged "Getaway Driver" Charged in Downtown Rochester Mugging

Investigators obtained a search warrant for the vehicle and identified its owner as 20-year-old Alaaudin Abdulqdia Ali of Rochester, according to a criminal complaint filed in Olmsted County Court Friday morning. 

Officers had eight prior encounters with the vehicle and identified Ali as the “getaway driver” on the morning of the robbery, the complaint says. 

In a phone interview with police, Ali admitted to being at the scene of the robbery but claimed to not know Abdi and the other assault suspect. 

The new complaint alleges Ali was captured on camera watching the mugging occur. Ali is facing aiding and abetting counts of robbery, theft and third-degree assault. 

He made his first court appearance Friday morning and was released without bail. Ali is due back in court next month.

The two other suspects have not been identified or charged as of Friday morning.