Four unsolved killings of Somali men led police to seek assistance in a meeting with community members.
By JIM ADAMS, Star Tribune
Mohamed M. Jama, of Minneapolis, was the most recent. He died from a gunshot wound to the head early Wednesday outside a Brooklyn Center hotel, the Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Friday. Minneapolis police said no one has been charged in the shooting deaths of Jama's brother and a friend on Dec. 1, nor in the shooting death of Abdullahi Awil Abdi, 18, killed in April in the Cedar-Riverside area.
On Friday, close to 100 Somalis met at the Brian Coyle Community Center in the Cedar-Riverside area to hear from police and Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center.
Brooklyn Center police Cmdr. Stu Robinson and Minneapolis Lt. Amelia Huffman, head of the homicide unit, told the group that police can't solve the killings without community help.
"I was begging them to have their people come forward," Robinson said. "Unless they step up, the cycle will continue and there will be more people dying in their community. It's no different than other communities."
Some Somalis at the meeting said they fear talking to police because of immigration status. "I said we don't ask and don't care," Robinson said. "We want to help stop the violence in your community and the greater community, that includes Brooklyn Center."
Jamal said word in the Somali community is that friends of Jama think they know the shooter and may try to kill him. He said he encouraged people to give tips on the suspect to police instead because "it is almost like open warfare right now among the Somali minors and youth. We are deeply troubled."
Part of the reluctance to step forward is that Somalis come from a country where police are corrupt and abusive, said Saeed Fahia, executive director of the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota.
Source: Star Tribune, June 28, 2008