Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Family, friends ask for help finding 18-year-old Mpls. man

By Allie Shah

The week-long disappearance of a young Minneapolis Somali man has created a stir within the city’s Somali community.

About 50 people gathered at the Brian Coyle Community Center in Minneapolis Monday evening for a news conference to talk about their concerns for a young Minneapolis man who has been missing since April 23.
Hassan Aden, 18, was last seen by his family the morning of April 23 when he left for the school bus. A friend of his, Saleh Saleh, 13, said Aden was in school that day and they rode the bus together from school in the afternoon. But Aden got off at a different bus stop than usual. Puzzled, Saleh shouted through an open bus window to his friend,” Where are you going?”

Aden did not say anything, Saleh recalled. He just saluted Saleh, then turned around and walked toward the Mississippi River, Saleh said.

Hassan was a student at Higher Ground Academy, a St. Paul charter school attended. He played soccer for his school team.

On Saturday, Aden’s family was joined by scores of volunteers from the Somali community who helped search for the missing young man. They walked along East Franklin Avenue and 30th Avenue South in the Seward neighborhood — the place where he was last seen, getting off the school bus.

Diib Muse, Aden’s mother, said she knew something was wrong when her son did not return home on Monday evening. “I do not think my son, in his normal state of mind, would be away from us,” Muse said, speaking through a translator, Abdulkadir Warsame. She said she is concerned that any number of bad things may have happened to her youngest son, from falling into the river to being abducted by someone.

Muse said she immediately reported her son’s disappearance to the Minneapolis police.

Some family members say they have heard that Aden was recently told by school officials that he would not graduate from high school on June 4 because of academic difficulties, and that news may have caused him to feel distressed.

At the news conference, Muse made a plea to the general public to help find her son. If anyone has any information about Aden or has seen him, the family requested that they call Minneapolis police or contact the family at 612-227-1080 or at 651-855-8909.

Source: Star Tribune


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