A Somali man found slain in a northside park earlier this month was facing charges for an attack on an off-duty police officer, Sun Media has learned.
Abdul Kadir Mohamoud's half-naked corpse was discovered Dec. 2 by someone walking a dog in Grand Trunk Park at 130 Avenue and 109 Street. The 23-year-old had been beaten and then shot to death.

He was the fourth young Somali man with ties to Ontario to be shot to death in Edmonton since September. A fifth was shot in the neck on Tuesday, but survived. No arrests have been made in any of the killings. Police said that the victim in the fifth shooting hasn't cooperated.

Back in March, Mohamoud was arrested with five other men after an off-duty police officer was pelted with stones and then robbed. The cop, a 19-year veteran of the force, was cycling to work at downtown headquarters when he was approached by a group of young men near the intersection of 102 Street and 105 Avenue.

They began throwing rocks at him, hitting the cop in the forehead. Then they robbed him of his belongings, including his bike. Shortly after, a dog team helped track down six suspects, each of whom were charged with robbery.

The cop wasn't seriously hurt.
The case was one of four attacks on off-duty cops around downtown police headquarters. In October, Insp. Brian Nowlan warned that police officers were being targeted. "In every case, it was very evident that (the attackers) knew they were police officers," Nowlan said at the time. "In three of the cases, they were confronting our people by saying, 'Hey, cop.' "

Charges were laid in all four cases.
While there's no evidence to connect them, Nowlan said in each case those charged have lengthy criminal histories.

Source: Sun Media,
Dec 20, 2008

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