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Riham Feshir
St. Paul

Witness: Rochester victim dared gunman to shoot him

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Updated 3 p.m. | Posted 7:54 a.m.

The man who shot a 17-year-old Rochester, Minn., driver after a Sunday morning traffic incident has told police he acted in self-defense. Rochester police, however, say they're recommending second-degree murder charges.

So far, the investigation hasn't found evidence of self-defense under state statute, said Rochester police Captain John Sherwin. "You have to have the reasonableness of the person that's involved to consider, and they have to be in fear of great bodily harm or death, " he said.

"In our investigation, there were no punches thrown or anything of that nature. You have a little bit of a higher standard if you're going to use a firearm to defend yourself," he added.

Police have gathered conflicting accounts about what was said before the shooting, Sherwin noted.

The driver, Mohammed Rahim, died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. The 25-year-old shooter is being held pending charges.

Noah Dukart, a friend of Mohammed who was riding with him at the time of the car accident, told KTTC-TV that Mohammed got out of the vehicle following the collision, confronted the other driver and dared him to shoot after he pulled out a gun.