Minnesota's "Days Since We Were A National Embarrassment" counter may be rusted stuck at "0". It's been so long since it needed to move, nobody remembers the last time it ticked up to "1".
Now, if there's one institution in Minnesota life that hasn't changed over the decades, it's the Minnesota State Fair. The largest state fair in the country (settle down, Texas), the state almost literally sets its clocks by it. It always runs for the ten days leading up to and including Labor Day. Most schools in the state don't even bother trying to start classes before the Fair is over.
And it's always been a safe space. The Fair went over a century without any robberies on the fairgrounds during the fair (until the year they started putting metal detectors at the gates to keep law abiding people from carrying firearms, doncha know).
But too far is too far, dagnabbit.
When word started to filter up to law enforcement that two rival Somali gangs — the "Muddy" crew from Minneapolis and the "Ville" posse from south-suburban Burnsville — were planning on having a shootout at the Fair, law enforcement sprang into action. Detectives gathered evidence, SWAT teams grabbed the guys and gals with the guns, and the threat to the "Great Minnesota Get-Together" was nipped in the bud.
What, you believed that? Have you ever met Minnesota?
No. None of that happened.
Rather, the state Attorney General Keith Eilison, Henneping County attorney Mary Moriaarty and Ramsey County (where Saint Paul and the Fairgrounds area) prosecutor John Choi...
The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and Ramsey County Attorney’s Office together have filed lawsuits to keep two rival Somali gangs away from the Minnesota State Fair when it starts later this month.
— Alpha News (@AlphaNews) August 11, 2026
The two lawsuits filed in civil court came to light on Friday and seek… pic.twitter.com/Y1hgdgQ1ct
"Injunction" is Latin for "sternly worded letter on court letterhead":
Minnesota prosecutors are taking legal action seeking to prohibit two known gangs from gathering near the fairgrounds while the Minnesota State Fair is underway later this month.
The proposed injunction was filed by several prosecutors, including Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, arguing that "Muddy" and "Ville" gang members are connected to multiple gang-related incidents, including most recently outside a college graduation in downtown St. Paul.
The court filing claims that Muddy was also connected to a shooting at a Burnsville High School graduation last summer and was stopped at a community festival earlier this summer with extended magazines.
It's not like there's no history, either:
The filing alleges that a “fight poster” shared by a Ville gang member on Instagram features the tagline “THE BIGGEST BATTLE OF THE SUMMER” dated for Aug. 29 “LIVE AT THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR,” with Ville and rival gangs listed on the story.
Both gangs have been involved in violence at the Minnesota State Fair in recent years, including a 2024 shooting just outside the State Fairgrounds on the last day of the 2024 perpetrated by a Muddy gang member, as well as “multiple assaults and brawls” involving Muddy and rival gang members on the last day of the 2025 State Fair.
The action, if granted, would hypothetically enjoin ten members of the gang from being on or around the State Fairgrounds:
Prosecutors want a Ramsey County judge to keep 10 people they identify as members of two rival gangs out of the Minnesota State Fairgrounds and the surrounding blocks for all 12 days of this year’s fair, citing brawls at the last two fairs and Instagram posts they say advertise a… pic.twitter.com/5aEgdWkNL6
— MN CRIME (@MN_CRIME) August 8, 2026
Although it's not like they check IDs at the gates.
Now, if you live in a part of the country not run by crazies, you might ask yourself "wait - how would they deliver the summons to the gang to show up for the hearing? Do they have a street address to serve it to? Do Minnesota Somali gangs retain general counsel for this sort of thing?"
I can't answer that.
But do they have lawyers helping them out?
Oh, yes. They most certainly do.
