The Chicago man suspected of shooting a Jewish pedestrian on his way to synagogue will not be charged with a hate crime, authorities said this week.
Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, 22, was accused of shooting a 39-year-old Orthodox Jewish man who was wearing a kippah and walking to a synagogue in Chicago’s Rogers Park district on Saturday, following the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.
After shooting the victim multiple times, Abdallahi opened fire on responding officers. He was charged with six counts of attempted murder, seven counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, and aggravated battery, and the victim was treated in a hospital from which he was discharged over the weekend.
“During the shooting, the offender approached a 39-year-old male and shot him in the shoulder without saying a word,” Superintendent Larry Snelling said. Snelling added on Monday afternoon that police didn’t have enough evidence to charge Abdallahi with a hate crime, but that the charge remained a possibility.
Alderman Debra Silverstein encouraged Chicago authorities to charge the suspect with a hate crime.
“I strongly encourage the Cook County State’s Attorney Office to prosecute the offender to the full extent of the law. The police have assured me that they are continuing to gather evidence, and additional charges – including hate crime charges – can still be added,” she said in an address to her constituents this week.
“Yesterday, I convened a Zoom meeting between Jewish Rabbinic and communal leaders and Superintendent Snelling and his police leadership team to discuss the shooting. The police share our disgust at a Jewish man being the victim of violence over the Jewish holidays. They are dedicated to committing the resources necessary to keep our community safe and they ask for the public’s help in providing any information or footage that could aid in the investigation.”
When asked this week if Abdallahi was an American citizen, Snelling said that authorities were investigating that. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Fox News that the department “has had no interaction with this person at this time.”
Anti-Jewish hate crimes have been the second most common form of hate crime in Chicago this year, according to the police department’s database. Due to tensions following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, police have for the past year been investigating a number of anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish hate crimes.
Although Abdallahi was heard shouting something during the attack, police have not verified what the man shouted.
“I have heard that, but it has yet to be substantiated by my law enforcement contacts,” former Anti-Defamation League regional director and former attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Lonnie Nasatir said when asked whether the suspect shouted “Allahu akbar,” as has been reported by some media outlets.
“And I don’t know if it was said at the time of the crime against the gentleman, or if it was said during the gunfire between him and the police. That’s why we have to defer to the investigators, because saying ‘Allahu akbar’ as he proceeds to pump bullets into the victim is different than saying ‘Allahu akbar’ when he may fear his impending death in a crossfire battle with law enforcement.”
Antisemitic incidents in the U.S. are on the rise following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. Attacks on American Jews have tripled in the past year, according to the ADL Center on Extremism.