Somali man Edmonton's latest homicide victim
He died after a fight in Inglewood
Police investigate the scene of a suspicious death at 112th Avenue and 124th Street Friday, July 15. Photograph by: Larry Wong, edmontonjournal.com |
|---|
EDMONTON — Edmonton's latest homicide victim was a 25-year-old man who moved to the city this spring after he completed his third year of university in Toronto.
"He just arrived after the school year was over," said Ahmed Hussen, the president of the Canadian Somali Congress, who knows the victim's father. He said the young man left his home in search of work in Alberta.
Ahmed Ismail-Sheikh, 25, died after a fight early Friday morning in Edmonton's Inglewood neighbourhood. Paramedics were called to 112th Avenue and 124th Street around 1:40 a.m. They found an unconscious man who had been injured in a fight. He was taken to hospital, where he later died.
On Sunday, police ruled his death a homicide. Ismail-Sheikh is the fourth Somali-Canadian man to be killed in the city this year. The cause of death has not been released.
On Saturday, city police continued to comb the area where Ismail-Sheikh was found, focusing on three brick two-storey apartment buildings. Several officers could be seen searching a suite in the centre building.
Police marked off trails of blood running throughout the area, circling the ruddy-brown droplets in yellow chalk.
Earlier this month, Edmonton's Somali-Canadian community launched several new projects targeting at-risk youth in an effort to curb crime in their community. Among the initiatives are a poster campaign encouraging community members to submit tips to police, an anonymous youth hotline, and spiritual counselling for at-risk youth and those already in the criminal justice system.
Hussen said the reaction to the programs has been positive, and the youth hotline is particularly popular. The latest homicide in the community highlights the importance of such initiatives, Hussen said.
"We are doing the right thing — we have to keep at it," Hussen said.
The Edmonton Somali community saw its highest number of homicides in 2008. Four Somali men under the age of 25 were killed in Edmonton, and a fifth Somali man was shot just outside city limits in 2008 near the River Cree Casino.
With four Somali men dead in just over six months in 2011, Hussen called on the City of Edmonton to do more to tackle the problem.
"If I was in the city government, I would be all hands on deck," Hussen said. While a representative from the Edmonton Police Service was at the launch of the Somali community's new programming for at-risk youth, Hussen said no one from the city attended the event.
However, the city's community service department is building an outreach team with a specific focus on Somali and African youth, said Harry Oswin, director of the community building east section.
The team will try to engage youth in leadership and volunteer programs and will also offer life-skills programming and help with citizenship applications, Oswin said.
They city has just finished interviews to select a co-ordinator for the team. A member of the Somali community sat in on the interviews. The co-ordinator will be out in the community by early August, said Oswin, and two or three part-time staff may also be hired.
"This needs to be a mobile approach," Oswin said.
Ismail-Sheikh's death is Edmonton's 29th homicide of 2011.
With files from Conal Pierse
jcummins@edmontonjournal.com
mibrahim@edmontonjournal.com
No comments:
Post a Comment