An illegal immigrant accused of shooting an Orthodox Jewish man multiple times as he walked into a Chicago synagogue last month used his cell phone to report on synagogues and the Jewish community in the area. Centers were searched, shortly before the attack, according to Fox 32 Chicago. He also had more than 100 “anti-Semitic and pro-Hamas” photos and videos on his cell phone, the Chicago Sun-Times quoted police as saying.
Sidi Mohammed Abdullahi, a citizen of Mauritania, has been a victim of hate crimes. Charges of terrorism For the Oct. 26 attack in which he is accused of shooting a 39-year-old Jewish man who was wearing a kippa while walking to his synagogue in Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood. The victim’s shoulder was injured.
Abdullahi was identified less than 30 minutes after the shooting, at which point he allegedly fired at responders before police “returned fire, killing the perpetrator,” police said. Abdullahi was hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds. No member. Of The police or fire departments were injured.
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Sidi Muhammad Abdullah is accused of shooting a Jewish man who was on his way to a place of worship. (Cook County Sheriff’s Office)
During a detention hearing Friday, prosecutors said Abdullahi’s cellphone data showed the suspect had been looking for targets for several days before the shooting.
Among the several addresses Abdullahi made on his phone were a synagogue just a block from the shooting site and another in Hyde Park. Two weeks before the shooting, his Google search history showed he searched for a “Jewish community center” and a gun store in suburban Lyons, prosecutors said.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Assistant State’s Attorney Ann McCord Rogers said, “This was nothing more than a planned attack … to try to kill these people.” “It was a calculated plan, on a public street … and an attempt was made to kill the man and the law enforcement officers.”
McCord-Rogers said a surveillance camera showed Abdullahi firing at the man, running away, then walking back to the victim to try to clear his apparently jammed semi-automatic pistol, McCord-Rogers said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. .
Abdullahi then drove a few blocks away, parked, and walked back to the scene of the shooting, walking past A woman with a childhe added.
The victim, described by the Jewish United Fund as a “Jewish community member,” was reportedly shot in the shoulder in Chicago. (Fox32 Chicago)
McCord Rodgers said he then fired twice in the direction of four police officers searching for evidence and a pair of paramedics tending to the wounded man.
Abdullahi then ran down an alley, cut through a yard and circled back to the ambulance as paramedics loaded the injured man. Abdullahi fired again at the ambulance, hitting it twice as a fifth police officer returned fire.
He then took off and ran through the front yard, where he paused to fire another shot at a police officer. After another exchange of gunfire with police, Abdullahi was shot and fell to the ground, McCord Rodgers said, before collapsing on the sidewalk to allegedly shoot at police, according to the publication. stood up again.
Police then searched his car and found Abdullahi’s cell phone, which revealed target locations and pro-Hamas material.
Abdullahi initially faced 14 felony charges, including six counts of attempted murder and seven counts of attempted murder. of increased discharge Possession of a firearm by a police officer or firefighter, and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm. One felony count of terrorism and one felony count of hate crime are charged.
Assistant Public Defender Josh Thigpen said Abdullahi had lived in the U.S. for “at least two years” and worked in an Amazon warehouse.
Four law enforcement sources told Fox News that he entered the U.S. illegally before he was arrested in California in March 2023 and was deported and re-entered the U.S.
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Police are investigating an October 26 shooting in the West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. (Fox32 Chicago)
Mauritania is a Muslim-majority country in northwest Africa. The Department of Homeland Security considers illegal immigrants from Mauritania “special interest aliens” due to security concerns, and they are supposed to be subject to additional DHS vetting.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Fox News initially told Digital that he had no contact with them. Law enforcement sources say Abdallah has a detainer request — a request that he be transferred to ICE custody if he is released — but that “safe haven” policies in Cook County, Illinois, have prevented local officials from using the facility. Forbids to cooperate with him.
Fox News’ Sarah Rump Whitten, Adam Shaw, Bill Malugin and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.