Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, the 22-year-old Muslim man suspected of shooting a 39-year-old Jewish man who was on his way to synagogue last weekend in Chicago, is a Mauritanian illegal immigrant who was caught and released in San Diego, Ca., in March of last year.
Abdallahi was charged with 14 felonies, including six counts of attempted murder, seven counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, and aggravated battery. Notably, the suspect was not charged with a hate crime, which Jewish community leaders and local politicians have denounced.
Law-enforcement officials have confirmed that Abdallahi is from the West African country of Mauritania, Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported. The suspect was detained by Border Patrol in the San Diego sector in 2023, before being released, at which point he apparently traveled to Chicago. Sanctuary-city policies in Cook County, Ill., where the shooting took place, bar local authorities from cooperating with ICE detainer requests.
Described by the Chicago Police Department as an “armed offender,” Abdallahi approached the victim “from behind and fired shots at the victim, striking the victim in the shoulder,” as the Jewish man was walking in West Rogers Park. The victim has recovered and is home now.
When asked earlier this week if Abdallahi was an American citizen, Superintendent Larry Snelling said that authorities were investigating whether or not that was the case; Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Fox earlier this week that the agency “has had no interaction with this person at this time.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson called Saturday’s shooting a “tragic event [that] should have never happened.”
“The Mayor’s Office is in close communication with the Chicago Police Department as the investigation continues. All Chicagoans deserve to feel safe and protected across the city. There is more work to be done, and we are committed to diligently improving community safety in every neighborhood,” he said in a statement.
Thousands of Mauritanian illegal immigrants have settled in Ohio and the surrounding Midwest area. Around 3,000 Mauritanian immigrants have poured into Lockland, near Cincinnati, for example, according to the city’s mayor. Lockland, a town of 3,420, has been overwhelmed by the influx; officials say that the town’s fire and paramedic services are overextended, and that Lockland’s infrastructure can’t handle a nearly double-in-size population.
Earlier this year, the State of Illinois and Cook County earmarked $252 million to provide services to illegal immigrants in Chicago. Tens of thousands of immigrants have been shipped to Chicago and its surrounding suburbs in the past couple of years, and the joint funding added onto an already expansive budget allocated for health care, housing, and other services for illegal immigrants.