NOEL, Mo. —19-year old Fatima Mohamed decided to have a quiet dinner at a park near her work when she had a one hour break on October 3.

But as the woman, who wears Islamic attire, was driving back to work, she was cornered by a group of people who forced her out of her vehicle, assaulted her, fired shots in her direction and held her at gunpoint. 

Michael R. Miller, 34, and Ashli M. Helmuth, 28, are accused of accosting the Muslim woman as she was leaving the city park in Noel, Minnesota.

Prosecutor Bill Dobbs said Mohamed, a Somali who lives in Noel, was no doubt a victim of a hate crime. 

“She exited the vehicle and there was a verbal altercation between her and two females,” Dobbs said.

The altercation involved racial slurs directed at Mohamed by the group, Dobbs said. 

Helmuth and a second woman began shoving and hitting her, he said. Miller and two others joined in the verbal abuse of Mohamed, with Miller shouting at her as he pulled out a handgun and fired several rounds “in her general direction,” the prosecutor said.

“He then put the gun to her head and made further threats,” Dobbs said.

Mohamed escaped injury in the incident that was reported to Noel police, leading to the arrests of Miller and Helmuth. 

Charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action, the two remain in custody at the McDonald County Jail on cash-only bonds of $2,500. They have a preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday of next week.

Dobbs said that from the police reports that he has seen regarding the incident, he does not believe Miller discharged the gun with an intent to shoot Mohamed.

“I don’t think it was an effort to hit her,” he said. “I think it was an effort to frighten her.”

Miller admitted involvement to a Noel deputy marshal and told police where they could find the gun that was discharged, according to the affidavit.

Michael R. Miller and Ashli M. Helmuth are the only defendants currently charged in the case. But Prosecutor Bill Dobbs said he could file charges against others involved as the hate-crime investigation proceeds.