Somali men who died violently in Northern Alberta 2006 - 2011

By Mariam Ibrahim, Edmonton Journal

2006

Omar Mohamad Abdalla, 19, was shot to death on Feb. 12 at his apartment building at 10835 115th St. A cousin said Abdalla had moved to Edmonton from Ottawa to find work five months before he was killed. Abdalla arrived in Canada from Somalia when he was about 10 years old.

2007

Farhan Hassan, 27, and Kasim Mohamed, 28, were gunned down on Sept. 2 outside the Fulton Place Community Hall during an after-hours party. Hassan was a Calgary resident and arrived in Canada in 1993. Mohamed arrived in 1997. Neither man was believed to have drug or gang ties.

2008

Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, 24, was shot to death on Aug. 30 outside the River Cree Casino. Ibrahim had an outstanding warrant after failing to appear in an Edmonton court on July 9. He faced a charge of failing to comply with conditions, court records revealed. About 14 months before his killing, he had moved to Edmonton from Toronto where a robbery charge against him had been withdrawn in March 2007 when he accepted the conditions of a peace bond. Adam Michael Brown, 23, and Alexander Edward Colin Reid, 22, were found guilty of seconddegree murder and in December 2010 were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 17 years.

Nasir Mohamed Said, 22, was found shot to death on Sept. 16 at Balwin School, at 132nd Avenue and 70th Street. The Toronto resident was not known to Edmonton police, but was wanted on several warrants in Ontario. He had been a short-term resident of Fort McMurray and was wanted by RCMP for outstanding drug-related charges.

Abas Abukar, 21, was found dead on Oct. 31 in a playground at 140th Avenue and 92nd Street. The former student at Humber College in Toronto had moved to Edmonton in June 2008 to find work, his family said.

Ahmed Mohammed Abdirahman, 21, was found shot to death on Dec. 2 in a parking lot outside a townhouse complex near 148th Avenue and 89th Street.

Abdul Kadir Mohamoud, 23, was found shot to death on Dec. 2 in Grand Trunk Park near 109th Street and 130th Avenue. He had moved to Edmonton from Toronto about two years before his killing.

2009

Mohamed Farah Khalif, 20, was found shot to death on April 26 on the north side of Hermitage Park in east Edmonton. Khalif, who was born in Somalia, moved to Canada in 2003 after spending more than 10 years in refugee camps. He settled one year later in Hamilton, Ont., with his mother and three brothers. A friend said he moved to Edmonton two years before his death to find work.

Abdulaziz Osman Isse, 21, was found shot to death on Nov. 12, behind the Beth Israel Synagogue on Wolf Willow Road. Isse was from Toronto and was known to Fort McMurray RCMP. It wasn't clear how long Isse had been in Edmonton before his killing.

Robleh Ali Mohamed, 23, was found on Nov. 29, shot in the head in the driver's seat of a car behind the African Safari restaurant near 106th Avenue and 105th Street. Mohamed grew up in Ottawa with three older sisters and his parents. His family said he moved to Calgary for work when he was 19, then moved to Edmonton about a year before his killing. He was known to Edmonton police.

2010

Saed Adad, 22, and Idiris Abess, 23, were found dead in a Fort McMurray apartment on Feb. 17. Their cause of death was never released. The men were cousins, originally from Toronto, and both were known to police. Adad had previous convictions for firearms offences.

Abdinasir Abdulkadir Dirie, 19, was found dead in a Fort Mc-Murray apartment on April 21. He had been charged in a drug bust in January 2010 for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Originally from Toronto, Dirie had taken a year off after graduating from high school to find work in Alberta, his family said.

2011 until now

Mohamed Mohamoud Jama, 23, was shot and killed on Jan. 1 at the Papyrus Restaurant and Lounge at 107th Avenue and 112th Street. Jama had family in Edmonton, and he and his wife were expecting a child. He had lived in the city for many years, community leaders said. He was known to police.

Yusuf Abdirahim, 20, was found unconscious, suffering from a head injury, after an altercation near 149th Avenue and 70th Street on May 19. He died in hospital two days later. He immigrated to Canada from Somalia with his family in 1999. They lived in Edmonton briefly before resettling in Etobicoke, Ont. His mother said Abdirahim came back to Edmonton to find work. In June, city police said they would not press charges against another male involved in the fight because Abdirahim was the aggressor.

Abdi Ali Mohamud, 43, was shot to death on June 3 in an alley near 86th Street and 106A Avenue. Mohamud was married with a two-year-old daughter. He was not known to police, who said he was killed in a case of mistaken identity.

Ahmed Ismail-Sheikh, 25, was found on July 15 suffering from injuries he sustained in a fight near 112th Avenue and 124th Street, and later died in hospital. Originally from Toronto, Ismail-Sheikh had lived in Edmonton for about two years before his killing. Five days after Ismail-Sheikh's death, Edmonton police announced they had charged another Somali man, 22-year-old Arab Mursal Sugule, with second-degree murder in connection with the killing.

Source: The Edmonton Journal