An Apple Valley man has pleaded guilty to stabbing a taxi cab driver to death, according to the Dakota County Attorney’s Office.
Abdirahman Abdiwahab Abdikarim, 19, had been charged with killing then-41-year-old Michael Allen Palm, a Suburban Taxi driver, during the course of a robbery.
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said Abdikarim pleaded guilty to second degree unintentional murder. Two other, more serious murder charges were dismissed in the plea agreement.
Abdikarim will be sentenced Dec. 14. He could spend up to 40 years in prison.
Palm, who was also called “Cabbie Mike,” was found dead in his cab with the door open the morning of Aug. 1, 2009. It was found in the parking lot of the Commons II building on the 15000 block of Glazier Avenue.
Officers found stab wounds on Palm’s forehead, face, neck, arms and one hand, as well as a nearby screwdriver covered in blood. Palm’s cell phone was not found at the scene and had apparently been stolen.
Investigators used phone records of calls made using the phone after the crime to help them track down Abdikarim.
Police questioned one of the people called from the phone, who told investigators Abdikarim and some people he was with had brought it to the Karmel Mall in Minneapolis to ask him how much they could sell it for. The witness claimed Abdikarim had sold other stolen items at the mall that day.
Police spoke to another young man, 16, who said Abdikarim told him, “What I did, you do life for it, man, I can’t tell you,” adding that “I beat the guy up so bad, man, he fainted,” and “I got some killer hands, man, my fist.”
Investigators with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found DNA evidence on the screwdriver matching Abdikarim and Palm, as well as a number of finger and palm prints in and on cab. A palm print matched Abdikarim, according to court documents.
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WCCO
Its a sad story, that somali childern committee every second around the world, such a imbeclic killing is so sad, why would he kill a human being? can’t he get a job as a taxi driver? why can’t he get educated? this is the question that they need to ask themself before killing an human being who woke up in the morning to atlest live in a happy life and enjoy, SOMALI MAHMMED wallah waye oo daamtay
wasaqaan indhaha xun I would sugest hung him way high. He was brought to this peacefull country and bieng safed from starvation, then he did what something that is against Islam, and our beautifull lost Somali culture.