South Saint Paul, MN — Twenty three years after the killing of South Saint Paul clerk Khaled Al-Bakri, and 21 years since Philip Vance was convicted and given a life sentence for the deadly robbery, an anonymous source has come forward with new details that support Philip Vance’s claims of innocence.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, someone that has had contact with the alleged killer’s accomplice told Unicorn Riot they know who killed Al-Bakri, and it’s not Philip Vance. Since Unicorn Riot couldn’t independently verify the claim and have yet to contact the alleged killer to get a statement, we are not publishing the name at this time.
On December 22, 2002, Khaled Al-Bakri, a twenty-five-year-old store clerk at Sabreen’s Supermarket in South Saint Paul, was fatally shot. In 2004, Philip Vance was given a life sentence after being convicted of Al-Bakri’s murder despite no physical or ballistics evidence linking him to the shooting. Additionally, the prosecution relied on coerced testimonies, which have since been recanted, to secure a conviction against Vance. Philip Vance has maintained his innocence from day one and is currently housed in MCF-Rush City.
According to the source, the killer and the accomplice are said to have frequented Sabreen’s Supermarket in the months before Al-Bakri’s killing. The alleged accomplice is currently serving life in prison for a shooting less than two years later. Seven months before the murder at Sabreen’s, the alleged killer was convicted of reckless discharge of a firearm.
The alleged accomplice and killer are said to have been involved in selling and using methamphetamine as well as committing robberies at the time.
The source noted that the two men were together when they robbed Sabreen’s in Dec. 2002 and that Gang Strike Force officers interviewed the mother of the alleged killer’s child during the investigation into the Al-Bakri killing that Vance was later convicted of. The task force was disbanded in 2009 after federal investigators found officers involved in a myriad of illegal activities.
Furthermore, one of the witnesses interviewed in Vance’s case said that during the robbery of Sabreen’s they heard the killer speaking Spanish. According to the source, the alleged killer does in fact speak Spanish. Philip Vance does not speak Spanish.
Members of the Free Philip Vance team are holding a news conference this Thursday, February 13 to share details from an upcoming legal petition that will be filed. Included in the filing will be new information on more witnesses recanting – totaling more than 10 affidavits of recanted testimony – and details alleging the Gang Strike Force paid and induced witnesses and jailhouse informants in Vance’s case.
Cover image of Philip Vance (2023) illustrated by Unicorn Riot.
Catch up on our past coverage of Philip Vance’s case.
Community Demands Exoneration for Philip Vance on 22nd Anniversary of Murder
Originally published with Unicorn Riot on February 12, 2025.
The Work of Niko G 