The family of Abdirashid Mohamed Hussein has filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit, accusing the Minnesota Department of Human Services and several staff members of failing to protect patients at the state forensic mental health program in St. Peter. The complaint says staff let another resident stay up late in a shared area and play a violent video game shortly before Hussein was beaten to death.
What the lawsuit says
According to KARE11, the suit was filed in federal court on March 30, 2026, by the Minneapolis law firm Storms Dworak. It names the Minnesota Department of Human Services along with five current or former employees of the Forensic Mental Health Program and seeks a wrongful-death judgment.
The complaint alleges that 43-year-old patient David Michael Otey was allowed to remain in a shared day room late into the night, playing a violent video game, before the attack on Hussein.
How the night turned deadly
Police and court records show the assault happened around 1 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2024, at the Forensic Mental Health Program’s north campus in St. Peter, where Hussein was found with severe head trauma and later died at a hospital, as reported by KSTP. First responders were told that staff members had locked themselves in an office during the assault and that one worker was injured while trying to intervene.
The lawsuit and related court documents identify Otey as the assailant. Filings show he had a history of violent offenses and had been committed to the program after killing his sister in 2018. A judge later found Otey not guilty of the Jan. 1, 2024 attack by reason of mental illness, a result that Hussein’s family strongly denounced, as detailed by the Star Tribune.
Inside the St. Peter forensic program
The Forensic Mental Health Program, formerly known as the Minnesota Security Hospital, operates secure and less-secure residential units on a large campus in St. Peter and runs a 32-bed north campus where the attack occurred, per Minnesota Direct Care and Treatment. State licensing records indicate the facility has previously been the subject of oversight and maltreatment investigations, according to the Minnesota DHS licensing lookup.
Civil rights claims at the center
The complaint alleges Otey played "Assassin’s Creed Valhalla" in the common room shortly before the assault and says a court-appointed psychologist told investigators that Otey’s swinging of an electric guitar was "potentially near exact" to movements observed in the game.
As outlined by KARE11, the suit accuses four Forensic Mental Health Program employees of violating Hussein’s 14th Amendment civil rights and seeks damages from both the department and individual staff. In a news release, Storms Dworak partner Jeff Storms said, "When the state takes custody it assumes a constitutional duty to protect individuals from known dangers."
What happens next
The case is now pending in federal court and will move into pretrial phases, where discovery could produce internal staffing records, incident reports and other documents the family argues will show systemic failures. Hussein’s brother is the named plaintiff, and the family has previously called for changes at the St. Peter facility following the 2024 proceedings, as reported by the Star Tribune.
