City police praised the Somali community for providing tips that led to two arrests in connection with the slaying of a 20-year-old man found dead in Hermitage Park.
“I want to thank members within the Somali community for coming forward and providing us with valuable information in relation to this homicide,” said Deputy Chief David Korol this afternoon at police headquarters.
Map: Homicides, 2009
“I also want to thank the leaders within the Somali community for encouraging the people within their community to participate with police to help stop the violence.”
The victim has been identified as 20-year-old Mohamed Farah Khalif.
Abdikadir Mohamed Abdow, 22, and Mohamed Abdilla Awaleh, 36, both of Edmonton, face one count each of first-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery, as well as numerous weapons-related charges. The pair appeared in court yesterday morning.
Khalif’s body was discovered in the northeast park at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday. Police were brought to the scene acting on a information from within the Somali community. Police initially treated it as a suspicious death, but following further investigations, it was deemed a homicide, the city’s 10th of the year.
An autopsy was scheduled for this morning.
The deceased and the two suspects are known to each other, but Staff Sgt. Bill Spinks would not say how. He also declined to comment on whether this case links to past homicide cases, in which four Somali men were killed.
“We look at all our homicides throughout the year and have our analysts and detectives review all cases on a continuous basis and try to see if the crimes link together,” Spinks said.
Mohamed Abdi, communications coordinator for the Somali-Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton, expressed sadness at the recent slaying.
“We have come to know that Somali individuals are involved in the tragic situation... and we are very sorry as it is a big shock to our Edmonton Somali community,” Abdi said.
This past weekend’s friendly soccer match between members of the Edmonton police and the Somali community helped bridge the gap between the two groups, which will continue encourage the two groups to work together “and help minimize problems by misguided elements in the community,” he added.
In the recent rash of homicides – four in the past week – Korol stressed that all cases are unrelated and all have been solved at this point, with charges laid or pending with the exception of the case in which the suspect took his life.
Source: Edmontonsun
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