Somali teen murdered in Jamestown, ND

Update July 11th:  Arrest made here.

Update May 14th:  Not really an update but an additional story on the case, here.

Those cold and dull northern plains cities are being livened up lately by the arrival of Somali refugees.  Back in February we told you about a Somali being arrested on suspicion of murdering four native Americans, here.  We also told you about Jamestown as a Somali Tuula here and now comes word that a Somali teen who migrated from Columbus, Ohio to Jamestown has been murdered.

This story is a couple days old and I had hoped to see an update by now, but a report with the latest news on this case will have to wait until I get back from a trip. (If any reader sees it before I get back, please send me a link!)

Here is the news from Inforum (May 4th):

JAMESTOWN, N.D. – Eighteen-year-old Abdi Ali Ahmed moved to Jamestown in March seeking education, work and a new life.

He’d moved to the United States in 2006 to escape violence and civil war in Somalia.

So it’s ironic that he died a violent death, said his aunt, Marian Ghedi.

A passing motorist discovered Ahmed’s body at the edge of a dirt field Saturday about 1½ miles north of the Spiritwood exit on Interstate 94. Jamestown residents Leron “Ra Ra” Howard and Janelle Cave have been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder, both Class AA felonies.

“He died here, the place that we thought was safe. With violence he has been killed,” Ghedi said.

The article tries to say that Ahmed was just a struggling refugee attempting to make a better life for himself, but he did have a little trouble with the law.  And, we don’t know yet about this case, but murders like this one have been happening in Canada as Somali young men move westward in that country and most murders there are believed to be connected with drug gang violence.

Just a sweetheart:

Abdi Ahmed was arrested and charged with simple assault in April. However, friends he’d stayed with called him a “sweetheart,” saying he was friendly and outgoing.

Really who knows who his family is.  He came here in 2006, that would be before the US State Department discovered the rampant fraud in the family reunification program and shut it down for several years.  Turns out that as many as 80% of the family reunification cases involving Somalis were fraudulent.

Born in Ethiopia in 1993, Ahmed lived with his brother and family in refugee camps before immigrating. Like many Somali families, siblings, aunts, uncles and other relatives lose contact through the refugee and immigration process. Sometimes they don’t hear from each other for years. That was the case for Ahmed and his half sister, Dini. She’d lost touch with him for 10 years.

Some Somalis say they are clearing out of Jamestown as a result of the murder.  I don’t know if the suspects are black, but there have been many cases of conflict between American blacks and the Africans coming on to their turf in many American cities.

After Ahmed’s death, some are reconsidering their residency.

“One hundred percent, I’m getting out of here,” said Yurup Abdi, a friend of Ahmed’s. A single mother, Abdi had considered moving but now plans to move by the end of the month.

And, by the way, Sioux Falls, SD has had a little Somali refugee excitement too recently, here.