Man charged after 130 mph police chase that ended with fatal carjacking attempt

A Minneapolis man is facing charges of murder, attempted murder, and assault in connection with a shooting rampage Tuesday that left one man wounded and another dead in Kandiyohi County.

Authorities allege Ameer Musa Matariyeh, 25, shot and killed Jerome Skluzacek, 55, during an attempted carjacking, after Matariyeh went on a violent rampage that started in south Minneapolis and ended two hours later and about 100 miles away in Willmar.

It started just after noon on Tuesday, when Matariyeh allegedly fired shots from an apartment balcony in Minneapolis during a domestic violence incident. He then led law enforcement on a pursuit west of the city. The chase reached speeds of 130 miles an hour as officers struggled to keep up.

He’s facing charges in both Hennepin and Kandiyohi counties.

According to the Hennepin County complaint, Matariyeh went to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment near 29th Street and Lyndale Avenue S, pushed her down, and held a gun to her head. He then allegedly pistol-whipped a man and demanded to know if the two were dating. 

Prosecutors said that Matariyeh went back inside the apartment and opened fire from the balcony. He shot at, but did not hit, the man as well as a second man who was there. Matariyeh and his ex have a two-year-old daughter together.

A separate criminal complaint from the Kandiyohi County Attorney’s Office gives a detailed timeline of the police pursuit that followed.

At 1:53 p.m., law enforcement in Kandiyohi County were told to look out for a white Chevrolet Malibu registered to a Hutchinson woman. The vehicle had been stolen at gunpoint, but the complaint does not say where or when it was taken. The complaint also notes, but does not include details about, a carjacking in Carver County “where shots were also fired.”

At 1:58, officers spotted the Malibu and followed it west on Highway 7 into Kandiyohi County. At 2:00, police received word that the suspect had stopped at a home on a rural stretch of Highway 7 near Lake Lillian and shot a man who lives there.

Prosecutors said the victim – who’s also 25 years old – is expected to survive. He was struck in his upper right shoulder and the bullet exited through his back. He was conscious when officers arrived. 

The victim’s wife, who’s identified by her initials in the complaint, told officers that her husband said the suspect was going to shoot someone if he couldn’t talk to his daughter. Matariyeh allegedly fired six or seven rounds when he was at the home. The victim’s wife got out a rifle but didn’t fire it. 

Prosecutors say officers then spotted Matariyeh speeding west on Highway 7 soon after the Lake Lillian shooting. At 2:09, officers were told over the radio that dispatch had made contact with OnStar, a division of General Motors that provides remote vehicle diagnostic, navigation, and security services.

OnStar told the dispatcher that the Malibu could be disabled as soon as law enforcement gave the go-ahead. But, according to the complaint, Sgt. Ross Ardoff with the Cooperative Enforcement Effort-VI Drug and Gang Task Force said that he wanted marked squads near the vehicle when it was disabled, and advised waiting until the Malibu was west of Prinsburg. 

But the Malibu was going more than 100 miles an hour, and deputies struggled to keep up. At 2:14, Matariyeh drove through Prinsburg, headed north on a county road and reached 130 miles per hour as he headed toward the town of Raymond.

Law enforcement lost sight of the Malibu on the curving road, and some of the squads mistakenly headed west and followed an uninvolved vehicle that was the same color as the Malibu until OnStar informed them that the Malibu was going east on Highway 23 toward Willmar. 

As two Willmar police officers prepared to deploy stop sticks, they saw the Malibu blow by. At 2:24, 15 minutes after dispatch reached OnStar, a Kandiyohi County Chief Deputy Kent Bauman gave the order to disable the Malibu. By then, the car was at Highway 23 and U.S. 71, a major intersection south of Willmar.

Matariyeh allegedly ran from the disabled vehicle and fatally shot 55-year-old Jerome Skluzacek while trying to steal his pickup truck.

Multiple officers — including Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson — witnessed the shooting.

Three officers approached Matariyeh and arrested him after he threw his gun into a ditch in the Highway 23 median. Through much of the chase, Matariyeh was on the phone with Minneapolis Police Department negotiators, who — according to the complaint — reported that Matariyeh wanted to go out by “suicide by cop.” 

Court records show that Matariyeh has no criminal record in Minnesota beyond traffic violations and a petty misdemeanor conviction for possession of drug paraphernalia.

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