Chicago cops add terror and hate crimes charges to counts facing man who shot Jew
Following criticism from Jewish community, police chief Larry Snelling stresses these charges were not immediately filed because evidence needed to be gathered
The Chicago Police Department will add felony terrorism and hate crimes charges to the counts that a man is facing for shooting an Orthodox Jew walking to a synagogue in the Illinois city last week, the local superintendent announced Thursday following criticism from local Jews over the omission of the latter charges.
During the incident last Saturday, police say Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, 22, shot a 39-year-old Orthodox Jew, whose identity has not been released, while the latter was walking to Congregation KINS in Chicago’s heavily Jewish neighborhood of West Rogers Park, striking him in the shoulder.
Abdallahi was then shot in a subsequent firefight with police and taken to a hospital in critical condition. The victim was released from the hospital on Saturday afternoon.
According to local Chicago reports, Abdallahi is a Mauritanian national.
“We will never tolerate violence that’s rooted in hate and bigotry,” police chief Larry Snelling said during a press conference.
Pushing back on criticism that the force did not initially charge Abdallahi with terrorism and hate crimes, Snelling said police wanted to ensure there was sufficient evidence to back up the hate crimes charges against Abdallahi, which he stressed “takes time.”
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According to Snelling, officers found evidence on Abdallahi’s phone that he “planned the shooting and specifically targeted people of Jewish faith. This evidence allowed us to secure the terrorism and hate crime charges.”
The response to the incident by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also garnered criticism from the Jewish community after Johnson’s condemnation statement did not mention the fact the victim was Jewish.
“On behalf of the City of Chicago, our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the victim and his loved ones from this weekend’s shooting incident that took place in Rogers Park,” Johnson wrote in a Tuesday statement on X, adding that the “tragic event should have never happened.”
The criticism marked the latest chapter in Johnson’s rocky relationship with local Jewish leaders. In January, Johnson cast the tie-breaking vote to pass a resolution in the city council calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, making Chicago the largest US city to do so. The resolution drew rebukes from local Jewish groups, including Chicago’s federation and the local branch of the Anti-Defamation League.
Ahead of this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Johnson called the war in Gaza “genocidal,” a charge that Israel has strongly denied.
Nevertheless, Johnson stood behind Snelling during the superintendent’s Friday press conference in which he announced the new charges.
The incident came at a time of high alert for Jewish communities nationwide. The shooting unfolded hours after the conclusion of Simhat Torah, which marks the end of the Jewish High Holiday season and is also the Hebrew calendar anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The ensuing multi-front war has been accompanied by a spike in reported antisemitic incidents globally and in the US.
The shooting also came a day before the sixth anniversary of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, when 11 worshippers were killed in the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history.
