Matariyeh Sentenced to 38 Years for Kandiyohi Shootings
A Minneapolis man was sentenced Monday to more than 38 years in prison for murdering a New London man and shooting a rural Lake Lillian man during a police chase last year. In Kandiyohi County District Court, Judge Stephen Wentzell sentenced 27-year-old Ameer Musa Matariyeh to 306 months in prison on a conviction of 2nd Degree Murder and 153 months for Attempted 2nd Degree Murder.
Matariyeh’s attorney William Walker asked that the sentences be served concurrently, or at the same time, but Wentzell ordered they be served consecutively, or one after the other. Of the 38 year and 3 month sentence, Matariyeh must serve 2/3rds of that time, or 25-and-a-half years, before he is eligible for parole. He was given credit for 397 days he has spent in jail so far. In court, Matariyeh apologized to his victims and their families and to his daughter for having to grow up without a father.
On October 22nd of 2024, Matariyeh got into a fight with his girlfriend in Minneapolis, fired a gun from an apartment balcony, and then headed west. In Carver County, he’s accused of carjacking a woman at a gas station, and continuing on to Kandiyohi County where he shot Peter Mayerchak in the chest at Mayerchak’s home. Mayerchak survived.
Matariyeh then drove on to the outskirts of Willmar, where police used the Onstar system to disable his car. He then got out of the car, walked up to a pickup that had stopped because of the police and emergency vehicles, and shot and killed the driver – 55-year-old Jerome Skluzacek of New London. He was then arrested by police. Many of those involved in his arrest, including Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson and Willmar Police Chief Mike Holme were in the courtroom during the sentencing.
In August, Matariyeh entered a Norgaard plea of guilty to two of the charges against him, meaning he does not admit guilt but admits there is enough evidence to convict him. He still faces charges in Minneapolis for firing the gun and in Carver County for the carjacking.
