The Dakota County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a man in connection with robberies at two convenience stores located along Highway 52 on Tuesday morning. The first robbery, reported at 5:52 a.m., occurred at the Hampton Pump and Grocery located in the City of Hampton. In this case, the suspect threatened the store clerk by saying he had a gun. The suspect fled the store with an undisclosed amount of money taken from the cash register.
A short time later, deputies were advised of a second robbery that occurred at the Coates Corner located several miles north from the site of the first robbery. The second call was received at 6:05 a.m. The suspect entered the store and again told the lone clerk he had a gun. After taking money from the cash drawer, he fled the scene. In both cases the clerks were not injured.
According to
Dakota County Sheriff Dave Bellows, detectives from the Sheriff’s Office developed valuable information from store video at the time of the robbery. A suspect was identified and he was arrested in Minneapolis on Wednesday evening by members of the Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and officers from the Minneapolis Police Department’s Violent Offender Task Force. The Olmstead County Sheriff’s Office also provided information leading to the arrest of the suspect in this case.
The suspect has been identified as Abdirahman Hassan Samatar, 30 years old, from Minneapolis. Sheriff Bellows credits the clerks at both robbery sites for their assistance in helping to identify the suspect in this case. He is currently in the Dakota County Jail. At the time of his arrest, he also had an outstanding felony warrant for Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle from Olmstead County.