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Wednesday, April 29, 2009
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 who was
found Sunday morning 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 yesterday afternoon at police
headquarters.
"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.
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.
Last fall in the span of less than three months, the four Somali men -
several of whom police say had ties to the drug trade in Toronto - were
shot to death in Edmonton.
Mohamed Abdi, communications co-ordinator 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, 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.
CLARA.HO@SUNMEDIA.CA
Source: Sun Media, April 29, 2009
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