FARGO, ND – Two shootings in Fargo early Sunday morning are connected, according to the Fargo Police Department.
The incidents
“Our team has identified that these two incidents — the homicide shooting (on Broadway) and the homicide on 16th Avenue — are part of an ongoing feud between two groups of individuals,” Fargo Police Chief David Zibolski said in a press conference on Monday afternoon. “This appears to be going on for some time. We don’t know the motive behind the feud, but it’s obviously escalated.”
Fargo Police Department Investigations Division Commander Bill Ahlfeldt said the first incident, on Broadway, started on the sidewalk and then moved into the parking area between District 64 and Fort Knox.
Investigators check the scene hours after the shooting along Broadway between 1st Avenue North and NP Avenue (Photo: Ken Duffy)
Fargo Police have identified the two victims of the shootings. They say 19-year-old Fargo resident, Azeem Holmes, was killed in the incident in the 50 block of Broadway, and 20-year-old Fargo resident, Elijah Hughes, was killed in the incident in the 4700 block of 16th Avenue South.
ZIbolski said extra officers were in the area at the time of the shooting – and were the first to provide ‘immediate life-saving care’ to the victims, including Holmes. Another officer observed a man near the body with a gun. The officer engaged in a foot pursuit, at which time the person jumped into a random vehicle and fled. Another officer pursued the vehicle, which led officers to Island Park, where the subject left the vehicle and fled on foot.
Police continued to pursue by setting up a perimeter and deploying a K-9 and drone to search – but the suspect eluded capture.
The driver of the getaway vehicle was arrested for fleeing, but Zibolski said it doesn’t appear he’s involved with any of the suspects. A gun was recovered from the vehicle.
The Fargo Police Department put out a call for mutual aid – which brought officers from the Moorhead, West Fargo and North Dakota State University police departments, the Cass and Clay County sheriff’s offices and the North Dakota Highway Patrol. The officers from those agencies responded to assist in securing the crime scene and were involved in the investigation, along with responding to the 16th Avenue South shooting.
“We’re very grateful for their partnership and assistance at the scene and in the following days as this was a very large-scale event,” Zibolski said.
As the crime scene was developing, there were a lot of people coming from the bars, creating an unmanageable situation and creating the need for the mutual aid call.
“Had we not, I think, had that assistance, I don’t know if we could have held that scene, because there’s just too many people,” Zibolski said. “We don’t have a plethora of cops at any given time.”
Zibolski said a suspect has been identified in the murder on Broadway. That suspect, Tyrque Jones, is still at-large as of Monday afternoon and is wanted for murder. Zibolski said there is a warrant out for his arrest and should be considered armed and dangerous.
The police department is in the process of identifying a second suspect responsible for the murder of Hughes.
“We’re still looking at a lot of different,” Ahlfeldt said.
The second suspect still has to be corroborated ‘through legal means,’ he said, meaning until the suspect is truly identified as the suspect – the department is not able to release the information.
Ahlfeldt said there’s no information that leads officers to tie the incidents to gangs, but rather ‘some intense conflicts between these two groups of people.’
He said three guns have been taken into evidence from the crime scenes.
Public notification
Zibolski defended the department’s public notification after being asked why the department did not hold a press conference on Sunday.
While saying he was off Sunday, Zibolski alluded that there ‘was no information to provide until we were able to identify the suspect later in the day.’
“Then we immediately pushed that out to our community,” he said. “So, other than the initial statements in terms of what we were doing, there was no other information to provide the community.”
Zibolski said that the department has to ‘follow our investigative leads, the law, apply for search warrants and do things by the book.’
“So, I think in terms of all of that, we have done a tremendous job,” he said. “The community has been informed and continues to be well-informed, and now we’re asking for their assistance in locating this individual, and we appreciate their continued support.”
Flag Family News Director Ken Duffy pressed Zibolski on the timing of public notification relating to the safety of the city’s residents.
“I think we gave you all the information we could,” Zibolski said. “There isn’t anyone here that can ensure anyone’s safety anywhere in the world. Things happen, so I don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, but we’ve provided as much information as we can as quickly as we could, and we didn’t know, as we were still in the midst of that investigation, what the significance or extent of this is.”
Fargo Mayor Dr. Tim Mahoney and Zibolski issued a joint statement on the safety of the city nearly 18 hours after the first shooting.
