Police ask for help finding suspect in KC killing of 2 boys after Ramadan service

Anna Spoerre
·4 min read

An arrest warrant has been issued for a man suspected of killing two teenage boys late Friday night as they were going home from a Ramadan service at the Somali Center of Kansas City.

Police in a news release sent just after 6 p.m. Saturday said they are asking for the public’s help in finding the suspect, 25-year-old Hanad A. Abdiaziz.

Family and police on Saturday afternoon identified the victims as 16-year-old Abdulwahid and 14-year-old Abdirahman Abdulaziz. Family said they were the younger brothers of the suspect.

“He was a danger to the community, and he’s still a danger because they didn’t catch him,” a family member who wanted to remain anonymous out of fear for their safety told The Star.

The family member said Abdiaziz threatened other relatives. Family said they have been staying hidden out of fear for their lives.

The family member who asked to remain anonymous said they fear he’ll carry out more attacks if he isn’t arrested soon.

“We don’t want to lose more,” the relative said.

Officers were called at about 11:30 p.m. Friday to the area of East 8th and Olive streets on a reported shooting, Capt. Dave Jackson, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, said in an email.

There, police found two juvenile victims with gunshot wounds just outside of an apartment.

Both of the victims were declared dead at the scene, Jackson said, adding that police believe, upon an initial investigation, that a “domestic situation” involving a family member led to the shooting.

The family member told The Star that the shooting, which came after the boys spent a few hours praying at the mosque, was “out of nowhere.”

They were good kids with good grades, family said. They aspired to someday become leaders in the mosque, and even Imams.

Abdurahman Abu, 18, a member of the mosque and a friend of the family, told The Star that the boys were always smiling and brightening up other people’s days.

“They were leaders in their community at a very young age,” Abu said.

The boys loved going to the mosque and reading the Quran, as well as playing basketball with their friends, he said.

Some men gathered in front of the mosque Saturday morning recalled how the boys used to play in the parking lot. They were active members of their faith community, often leading prayers, they added.

“Those poor boys,” Mayor Quinton Lucas wrote on Twitter. “We have a lot of tragic stories here. This is a particularly tough and heartbreaking one. I know their mosque and their community. My prayers to their families. And my prayers to all in the community carrying trauma like this.”

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According to a GoFundMe page set up by a friend, family wants to leave the city..

“The Aunt wants to get all of the kids who survived out of Kansas City to try and get the burden of these deaths off their mind all day,” the fundraising page reads. “Even though that will be hard, moving to another country could help them grief better and feel safer. We want to raise even more money now so they can not only pay for the funeral but to leave and find a safer home.”

Police are asking anyone with information on the shooting to contact homicide detectives at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information in the killing.

UPDATE: Kansas City police fatally shoot armed suspect while investigating killing of 2 boys

Gun violence will be the subject of a new, statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.

To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.

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