The sentencing followed a fatal confrontation outside a Lakeville fulfillment center during an overnight shift.
HASTINGS, Minn. — A Dakota County judge sentenced Mohamed A. Hared to 128 months in prison after his guilty plea resolved the fatal shooting of a co-worker at an Amazon fulfillment center parking lot.
The May 29 sentence moved the case from the courthouse to the state prison system. Hared, 26, pleaded guilty in January to second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony in the death of Ahmed Ibrahim Cariif, 22. Judge Richelle Wahi gave him 700 days of credit for time already served. Hared remained in the Dakota County Jail after the hearing while awaiting transfer to the Minnesota Department of Corrections.
Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena announced the outcome and framed the killing as a dispute that never should have reached violence. “It’s so senseless the victim was shot to death over such a trivial matter,” Keena said. The matter before the court was no longer whether Hared fired the fatal shot. His guilty plea settled that issue. The remaining decision at sentencing was how much prison time would follow the admitted felony-level killing.
The court record traces the case back to Lakeville, not Hastings, and to the hours before sunrise on June 29, 2024. Hared, Cariif and a third co-worker had carpooled to the Amazon facility in the 9800 block of 217th Street West. They worked an overnight shift. Hared had a permit to carry and brought a gun, but he left it in the third man’s vehicle. Around 1 a.m., Hared checked the car and found the firearm still there, according to police, but said its flashlight attachment was missing.
Hared accused both men of stealing the accessory. They denied it. The accusation did not fade during the shift. About 4 a.m., the three went outside again to look through the car. The third co-worker suggested calling security so staff could check surveillance footage from the parking lot. Investigators said Hared refused and continued to blame the two men. According to the criminal complaint, he said they had taken the flashlight and warned that no one was going home that day.
The argument became physical in two stages. The witness told police he broke up the first fight between Hared and Cariif. Prosecutors said security footage showed Hared started that fight by throwing the first punch. Minutes later, the second fight began. This time, Hared had the gun in his waistband. He later told police that Cariif advanced on him, cornered him and struggled for the weapon. Prosecutors said the video showed Hared had chances to retreat and did not use them.
The witness account described a short and deadly pause between the shots. Hared pulled the gun, Cariif tried to grab it and Hared fired, according to the complaint. The first bullet hit a car. Cariif shouted, “Don’t shoot me,” and the witness also pleaded for Hared not to fire. The second shot followed after an estimated three to five seconds. It struck Cariif, who fell in a walkway at 4:09 a.m. The witness ran inside the fulfillment center because he feared being shot.
Police were already being called from the scene. Multiple 911 callers reported a shooting in the parking lot. Hared also called and said he had accidentally shot a co-worker. Officers with the Lakeville Police Department arrived to find Cariif lying face down between two cars and Hared standing nearby with the gun. First responders pronounced Cariif dead at the scene. The autopsy later found the bullet entered Cariif’s chest and struck his heart, lung and aorta.
Hared was arrested that Saturday and charged with second-degree murder. He was 24 when the case began and was held on a $1 million bond. The charge carried the case through Dakota County District Court for more than a year and a half before the January plea. By pleading guilty to second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony, Hared accepted criminal responsibility without a trial over the competing accounts of accident, self-defense, escalation and witness statements. The public record leaves the third co-worker unnamed and does not state whether the missing flashlight attachment was ever found. It does, however, identify the pieces that shaped the prosecution: the carpool, Hared’s firearm, the missing accessory, the rejected security review, the first punch shown on video, the two shots and the medical finding on Cariif’s fatal wound. Those facts linked a workplace break to a homicide case and then to a prison sentence almost two years later.
The sentence also fixed the next stage of the case. Hared’s time in the county jail counts toward the 128-month term, but his confinement shifts to state correctional custody after transfer. Cariif’s death remains the central loss in the record, and the case now stands as a completed Dakota County prosecution rather than a pending murder charge.
No additional hearing date was listed in the public sentencing summary. As of June 29, 2026, Hared has been sentenced and awaits or has entered correctional processing under the Minnesota Department of Corrections.
Author note: Last updated June 29, 2026.