Illegal immigrant faces hate crime, terrorism charges in shooting of Jewish man in Chicago

An illegal immigrant suspected of shooting a Jewish man multiple times as he made his way to a Chicago Synagogue is now facing terrorism and hate crime charges in connection to the incident.

Chicago Police Department Chief Larry Snelling announced during a press conference Thursday that Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, 22, was charged with one felony count of terrorism and one felony count of a hate crime. 

“We want everybody to know that we will never tolerate violence that’s rooted in hate and bigotry,” Snelling said. “This shooting is deeply personal to members of our Jewish community. We know that. But this shooting should be personal to everyone across the city.”

The new charges were in addition to the more than a dozen felony charges Abdallahi was already facing, which included: six counts of attempted first-degree murder, seven counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm at a police officer or firefighter, and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm.

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The slew of charges came after he targeted a 39-year-old Jewish man on Oct. 26 in Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood. The victim, an Orthodox Jewish man, was wearing a kippah while walking to his synagogue.

Police said that Abdallahi was identified less than 30 minutes after the shooting, at which point he allegedly shot at responders before police “returned fire, striking the offender.”

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Abdallahi is a Mauritanian illegal immigrant who was released into the U.S. last year, Fox News previously confirmed.

Four law enforcement sources said that Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, a Mauritanian national, was apprehended in Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector in March 2023 and was released into the U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had initially told Fox News Digital that it had no interaction with him. Law enforcement sources say that there is detainer request on Abdallahi — a request that he is transferred to ICE custody in the event of his release — but that “sanctuary” policies in Cook County, Illinois, prohibit local authorities from cooperating with it.

ICE previously confirmed that it had lodged a detainer on him, and that he had been encountered by Border Patrol near San Ysidro, California on March 31, 2023.

During the incident, no members of the police or fire departments were injured, but Abdallahi remains hospitalized.

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Investigators have not been able to interview the suspect due to his injuries, Snelling said. 

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said during the press conference that digital and forensic evidence indicated Abdallahi specifically targeted the Jewish community.

“Based on information contained from that digital evidence, we were able to determine that this individual plotted on this particular community, sought out this particular community, sought out this particular faith, that the efforts to engage in this crime were not spur of the moment,” she said. “They were not simply to rattle at the time, but to inflict terror.”

Detectives looked through digital evidence to establish a case, including evidence from his phone.

“I want to make this clear to everybody in every community. We did not secure these charges because of public pressure, or because of media attention,” Snelling said. “Gathering evidence and facts takes time, and we have to do it in a timely fashion so that we don’t impede the possibility of getting charges. We will never do things just based on a belief. We need proof.”

Fox News’ Greg Norman and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.