Suspect Charged in Deadly Crime Spree from Minneapolis to Willmar

(KNSI) — The suspect accused in a deadly crime spree that started in Minneapolis and ended near Willmar is officially charged with murder.

Twenty-five-year-old Ameer Musa Matariyeh was formally charged in Kandiyohi County with one count of second-degree murder, one count of attempted second-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault, and one count of fleeing police in a vehicle. A judge ordered him held there on a $3.5 million bond. He is also charged in Hennepin County via a warrant with three counts of second-degree assault and one count of domestic assault.

According to prosecutors, around 1:00 Tuesday afternoon, Matariyeh went to an apartment where his ex-girlfriend lives and started arguing with her, upset she was dating someone else. The boyfriend was in the apartment, and so was the child she and Matariyeh share. The three were able to run out of the apartment, but he chased after them, hitting the boyfriend twice in the head with a gun. Once they were outside, Matariyeh started shooting at them from the balcony of the apartment. Police arrived, established a line of communication with Matariyeh, and spoke with him “for some time” before learning he had fled the building and was driving west out of the Twin Cities.

He turned up in Kandiyohi County, where he allegedly stopped at a house in Lake Lillian and shot 25-year-old Peter Mayerchak and then stole his car before speeding off. Police found evidence of bullets entering the house with holes around the stove and a window.

Officers found Matariyeh traveling at 100 miles an hour and gave chase.

Matariyeh then drove to the intersection of Highway 23 and Highway 71, where he attempted to carjack 55-year-old Jerome Skluzacek of New London. He allegedly shot Skluzacek in the head. Skluzacek was pronounced dead at the scene.

Matariyeh was taken into custody a short time later and booked into the Kandiyohi County Jail, where he remains.

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