East Grand Forks Uncle And Nephew Facing Multiple Charges After Pistol Whipping Victim

(KNOX) – An uncle and his nephew from East Grand Forks are both facing multiple felony charges when the uncle allegedly hit a victim with a handgun as much as eight times.

37-year-old Mohamed Sugule and 22-year-old Munier Abokar were both charged with three felonies in Polk County District Court. They are both facing two second-degree assault charges with a dangerous weapon and third-degree assault charges for causing a substantial amount of bodily harm. Both men are being held at the Northwest Regional Corrections Center.

East Grand Forks police responded to a call at an apartment building on 8th Avenue Northwest on Tuesday morning at 1:25am. They received a report that a man had been pistol whipped and assaulted. The victim told officers he was staying in an apartment with Abokar, and that the two got into a fight after they were drinking with two women. The fight started because of a dispute over a woman. The victim says Abokar left the apartment and that he came back with his uncle. Sugule then allegedly told Abokar to assault the victim.

The victim told police that Sugule hit him seven to eight times with a black handgun and that he racked the gun several times inside and outside the apartment. The victim suffered a gash to his head: where he apparently needed stitches, and he needed treatment for multiple facial lacerations, swelling, and a broken cheekbone. He was treated at a hospital and needed more care after having trouble speaking.

Abokar told police that he asked the victim to leave the apartment and that his uncle tried to help to get him to leave. He also denies that Sugule assaulted the victim or showed the gun. Sugule told investigators a similar story, and said he had the gun in his pocket, but did not say he used it to hit the victim.

A complaint says that officers later found Sugule outside of the apartment building with a loaded 9mm handgun that was in his waistband. Blood was found in multiple locations and there was matching ammunition. Surveillance footage that was looked at by investigators apparently shows Sugule going between the two apartments and holding a gun in a hallway.

Prosecutors are also filing a notice of intent to seek an aggravated sentence because a gun was used in the incident.