Media spin vs. reality. The truth is in this story, but it doesn’t prevent AP from trying to portray Abdullahi Mohamed as a poor victim who just came to the U.S. for a better life. And better metal bars, apparently.
“Refugee shot by Salt Lake City police fled violence, squalor in search of a ‘better life,’” by Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press, March 7, 2016 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
Somali refugee Abdullahi Mohamed — critically wounded in a high-profile police shooting in Salt Lake City last month — fled to the U.S. from a refugee camp, where food was scarce, scorpions scurried everywhere and a toilet was a hole in the ground.
The 17-year-old’s family settled in Utah, hoping for a better life.
But things took a turn and he began to get in trouble with police, cousin Muslima Aden said, after his beloved grandfather suffered a brain injury in a car accident.
She remembered the family’s hopeful journey from a makeshift home with sand walls at a refugee camp in Kenya to Salt Lake City, where the teenager is now hospitalized. Police have said that Mohamed was shot when he would not obey commands to drop a metal stick being used to beat a man.
It was near-constant violence in Somalia that drove the family to flee to the refugee camp, Aden said. There, they lived in homes with a single bed, cracking sand walls and metal roofs that would fly off with the wind.
“You’re pretty much fighting for survival,” Aden said. “We actually came to America to have better life.”
The families arrived in Salt Lake City in 2004 when she was 5 and Mohamed was 6. Here, she saw grass and snow for the first time.
“It was better, because we had water, we had food, we had electricity,” she said. “We actually had light in the house.”
While the young cousins picked up English within a few years, learning a new, written language was more difficult for their parents and making ends meet was sometimes tough. Mohamed’s family briefly stayed at a Salt Lake City homeless shelter when money was tight, Aden said.
In a city that’s home to the headquarters for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, their Muslim faith stood out. Aden remembers classmates staring at her when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks came up in school.
“They look at us like they’re disappointed,” she said. “I am Muslim, and I know what we’re practicing. It’s peace.”
The family joined a relatively large refugee population in Salt Lake City, where a healthy economy and LDS Church outreach programs can make it easier for people fleeing war-torn countries to find jobs and transition into life in the U.S.
The cousins made friends. When they were old enough to work, they helped send money to family back in Africa.
Mohamed’s life took a detour, Aden said, after the accident left his grandfather, who was a father figure, unable to remember his grandchildren.
Mohamed started getting in trouble with police at age 12, according to court records. He spent time in juvenile detention centers for theft, trespass and assault, most recently in September.
None of that prepared his family for the news that he had been shot by police.
Police say Mohamed and a second person were beating a man with metal sticks when officers intervened Feb. 27. The officers fired after Mohamed moved toward the beaten man instead of immediately obeying a command to drop the stick, police said.
But Aden said she’s heard a different version from friends who were at the scene. She said that the man said something that started an argument, and the two were preparing to fight with halves of a broomstick that Mohamed broke when police arrived.

Islam_Macht_Frei says
I’m guessing the violence in Somalia went down a tad the day he left town.
TheBuffster says
Except he was six years old the day he left town.
Islam_Macht_Frei says
I stand by my guess.
Veritas says
I bet your right.
Con Ken says
Yep.
Sorry Muslim mom and dad, his story can be copied by millions, and most do not go around beating homeless people
jihad3tracker says
THIS ITEM IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST WEEPY PRIVILEGE-GUILT “REPORTER’S” PIECE OF LEFTIST DRECK THAT I HAVE EVER READ —- IT IS JIHAD-EXCUSING MEDIA.
BUT ON THE POSITIVE SIDE ????? THE COMMENTS ARE OVERWHELMINGLY OF THE “SLANTED BIASED PIECE OF CRAP” KIND.
ALSO WITH WASHINGTON POST MUSLIM-LOVING ARTICLES. 90% OF COMMENTERS REJECT MAINSTREAM BULLSHIT. FED UP — COMPLETELY.
gravenimage says
You’re right–most of the comments on this story recognize it for the disgusting lauding of thuggery that it is. Some of the posts are even pretty Islamosavvy.
Con Ken says
Yea, you have to wonder if they write this “news” to deliberately tick people off? Or try to brain wash you to loving Islam and it’s eventual conversions.
Uggggh
KrazyKafir says
Too bad the cop wasn’t a better shot.
scherado says
The families arrived in Salt Lake City in 2004 when she was 5 and Mohamed was 6. Here, she saw grass and snow for the first time.
Yeah, I’d like to live just about anywhere in Utah.
I can’t take it anymore.
John Johness says
How many more of these do we need. It is like they are describing pets. Does the journalist know how patronizing she or he is. It is the fascinating racism of the caring left. Abdullahi is a person who knows right from wrong and can make decisions. He is not an animal who just reacts because of a tough past. Interesting denial of agency.
billybob says
Not only that, but he won the Green Card lottery! Of all the unfortunates all around the world, only 1 in a 100 million win, and he was one of them. How does he show his appreciation for his remarkable good fortune? By beating up and probably robbing some poor homeless man. I suppose from there he would have moved up to snatching purses from old ladies, had he been successful. Scum bag! Interesting the reporter didn’t see it from this perspective.
Mockingjay says
Couldn’t agree more.This whole family should still be in their refugee camp in Kenya with the roof blowing off. There is no reason for them to be allowed into the United States. I truly believe that. You can help people where they are. No need to bring ‘m all over. Its just absurd.
Manuel Paleologus says
Agree with you!
mach37 says
And in this case it is doubly apparent that Abdullahi would be better off staying in an African refugee camp.
gravenimage says
Agreed, Billy Bob.
TheBuffster says
I’m trying to be objective here. Since the article doesn’t tell us very much, I don’t think in this particular case that we can lay this one down to his Muslim background. There are non-Muslim thuggy teens who would do the same thing. We don’t even know how religious this kid is or *why* he was in an altercation with the man. The article gives a lot of “sympathetic” background of the boy, but doesn’t tell us some of the details we’d need to know to make out whether he’s acting on Islamic premises or on the premises of the average juvenile delinquent. What we know is that Abdullahi was beating a man with a stick that police say was metal and some observers claim was a broken broom handle, and the kid advanced toward the man and didn’t drop the stick when ordered to stop and drop it, so he was shot. We know that the kid already had a criminal record since the age of 12. There are a lot of non-Muslim kids like that, too. Islam is a horrible religion, responsible for a lot of violence in the world, but it’s not always the Islam. Sometimes it’s just the kid, who’d go bad no matter what religious background he’s from.
Another thing – the *headline* says he was beating a *homeless* man. But I didn’t see anything about that in the article. There was something about the Muslim family having once lived in a homeless shelter for a while. But that wasn’t connected with the man who was being beaten. We know nothing of who the man was. He may have been totally innocent, or he may have been as thuggy as Abdullahi himself.
The reason I’ve sorted through this article this way isn’t to absolve Islam of being a crappy religion that breeds jihadis and supremacism and war, but to clarify what we know and don’t know *in this case*, and what we can and can’t conclude on the basis of what we do know.
BlueRaven says
what his sister stating stinks and a Muslim thing – blame the police.
Ashley says
I agree with your comment, TheBuffster.
Islam IS a crappy religion, but this article doesn’t indicate that Islam played ANY role in the incident.
Thanks for your insightful take on this particular post…
Robert Crawford says
Does the material the stick was made of make a difference in the fact he was committing attempted murder?
Ashley says
Robert asks “Does the material the stick was made of make a difference in the fact he was committing attempted murder?”
____________________
Absolutely not! My beef is that we don’t know the circumstances regarding this incident. Note this: “Police say Mohamed and a second person were beating a man with metal sticks when officers intervened Feb. 27.” Why no mention of this second individual?
The police were justified to shoot when Mohamed refused to drop his weapon on command, just as they are justified to shoot when an order is disobeyed and a crime is in commission. I just don’t see the connection to Islam in the story as presented.
Westman says
Buffster, from the Salt Lake Tribune:
“Pretty much there were two ‘thugs’ beating and robbing a person and the police were in the area and saw what was happening so they took action. Well, the guy who the thugs were beating and robbing is my roommate! First of all those cops that everyone are protesting in downtown SLC saved my friend’s life. He has multiple mental disabilities. He lives in a group home with me. He is my friend and I would shake the hand of any officer who helped save him,” the 22-year-old man wrote on Facebook.
The Deseret News contacted the mother of the 22-year-old man. She said she believes her son’s roommate was the man being beaten prior to the shooting.
——–
It’s difficult to know if violent people are drawn to Islam or Islamic Ideology creates violent people through allowance.
gravenimage says
Buffster, even if you think this Muslim thug’s violence has nothing to do with Islam, his family is attempting to use their “refugee” background and alleged oppression for being Muslim in Mormon-majority Salt Lake City to excuse his actions and garner sympathy–the usual false Muslim victim-mongering.
Veritas says
Right doesn’t every 12 year old start getting in trouble with the police?
Manuel Paleologus says
Yes, the islam is a ‘religion’ of peace and harmony. Please go and read their book and see what Muhammad did and why they do what they do.
Revisit the story of the frozen snake taken in by a woman.
America will not be Islamized as Europe is today. Try to have common sense and not to give in to their lies.
Cape girl says
I have to agree with you Manuel Paleologus! I’m so sick of people judging Muslims unfairly without educating themselves on Islam. There is good and bad in every religion Funny if a Catholic commits a crime we never hear that he’s a Catholic!! I live in Egypt and live among Muslims. The majority of them are very sweet and kind. There is no where near the crime here as there is in the states , nor is the crime as vicious and violent. Kids here play in the streets till 3 or 4 in the morning in the summer time and you never have to fear for their safety. I deregress, as someone else stated there are punks in every religion, every race. We can’t judge a whole race by a few bad apples and I refuse to be judgemental. BTW I am from Utah!
Angemon says
Cape girl posted:
“I’m so sick of people judging Muslims unfairly without educating themselves on Islam.”
And I’m tired of people judging all faiths by assuming they’re all equal and therefore if anyone does something bad they’re going against what their religion professes. Have you educated yourself on islam?
“There is good and bad in every religion”
Some religions call bad “good” and good “bad”. For example, would you say that child marriage is bad?
“Funny if a Catholic commits a crime we never hear that he’s a Catholic!!”
You mean, like when the Catholic priests abused children we never heard they were Catholic? Pull my other leg…
Think about it, if we never hear a Catholic who committed a crime is Catholic, how do we know Catholics commit crimes? Plus, I don’t remember Catholics committing crimes while shouting “Jesus is Lord!”. I have, however, seen muslims committing crimes while shouting “allahu ackbar”.
“as someone else stated there are punks in every religion, every race.”
Some religions have punks despite of their teachings, others have punks because of their teachings. It’s a crucial difference.
“We can’t judge a whole race”
What race is islam?
“by a few bad apples”
Indeed, we should judge a religion for what it teaches.
“and I refuse to be judgemental.”
Right, because you weren’t, like, judging people for not “educating” themselves about islam or anything…
Jeff Elliott says
Hey Cape girl. You’re missing the obvious. Sure there are Catholics, other Christians and Jews who commit crimes. DUH! But listen closely to this you poor dumb kid: Muslims, AND ONLY MUSLIMS, commit unspeakable atrocities IN THE NAME OF THEIR RELIGION! And they do it because their odious prophet instructed them to…in writing! Got That?
Also, of course there is less street crime in your country. as it is any place where death or dismemberment is the usual punishment (also as per Odious Prophet).
Kindest regards
Janet says
He’s much lower than an animal! Sounds like he wasn’t adjusting to life in Utah very well! He sounds like a violent felon to me! If he pulls through maybe they should send him back to Africa! Good riddance!!!!!
mach37 says
I say he does NOT know right from wrong if he grew up Muslim. What Islam teaches its followers as right and wrong is very different from what the rest of the world teaches. Without spending time in a given household like THIS Abdullahi Mohamed’s (lone of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of Abdullahi Mohameds), only conjecture tells us whether he was taught everything in the Qur’an, or just bits and pieces of it. From my own brief study of the Qur’an and Hadiths, i know that any Muslim use of the word “peaceful” does not mean the same as other English speaker’s use of the word “peaceful.” Much meaning is lost in translation.
Shmooviyet says
Aww– aren’t you moved by those “I’m sad” puppy-eyes, and the tale of woe? They couldn’t find peace in America; the kids were ‘stared at’ after 9/11. Once again, the US failed its immigrants…
Have you never been tempted to beat a stranger after someone close to you was seriously injured in an accident?
Good to hear the commenters aren’t taking the bait.
Ashley says
There is a distinction between not “taking the bait” and finding gaps in this story.
There’s no shortage of non-Muslim punks. Critical details are lacking…
vERITAS says
You mean regarding the MAN HE WAS BEATING WITH AN IRON ROD?
BlueRaven says
“But Aden said she’s heard a different version from friends who were at the scene.”
This is a complete BC. If her friends were arount at the scene, why did they not tell the guy to obey the police and drop the weapon? There is no record of that. It is amazing how Muslims always find ‘witnesses’ and always blame the police.
I don’t believe her for a nano second on this.
billybob says
They’ll soon be saying he had his hands up when he was shot.
abad says
Refugees my foot.
These foreigners need to be rounded up and deported back to their Muslim home countries.
mortimer says
Islam is peace…until the jihad begins. Then Islam is jihad….heinous warfare against the disbelievers.
Islam is two-faced.
Hope says
Fed up, fed up, completely fed up with these violent Muslims and their claims of victimization. No matter how violently or horribly they behave, the media will spin it and award them victim status. There was a time when the law mattered in this country, and unlawful behavior was called out and punished. Now everyone who belongs to a protected group has an excuse for the evil they do, and the media is right there to defend it. Sympathy? Yes, I feel sorry for the decent people of Utah who had this little creep and others like him dumped on them by an irresponsible government that has nothing but contempt for its own citizens.
Barb says
Amen.
Janet says
My sentiments exactly!
Manuel Paleologus says
All these guys and their families should be deported within 48 hours.
Angemon says
And to bring that violence with them, apparently…
Where was the other half then?
joao says
Great! Let’s import another 200,000!
linnte says
I read another Tribune article about this same subject and the story is pretty convoluted. What did freak me out was the photo of Mohammad’s girlfriend holding a four year old child who is the son of the 17 year old who was shot. WHAT?? He had a child at age 13???
Michael Casmer says
They were “Stayed” at? I read an article by a blogger who stated that a Pakistani cab driver was driving the blogger past the World Trade Center after the incident. The cab driver told the blogger that if this happed in his country by CHristians, all the Christians in his country would be dead, not just stayed at
Travis says
Seem the kid went out of his way to get shot. Walking away would have been an option. C’est la guerre.
gravenimage says
AP’s “Refugee shot by Salt Lake City police” is Muslim migrant who was beating homeless man with metal bar
Media spin vs. reality…
…………………..
Yes, indeed. Not quite the poor “refugee” he is portrayed to be…
More:
The 17-year-old’s family settled in Utah, hoping for a better life.
But things took a turn and he began to get in trouble with police, cousin Muslima Aden said, after his beloved grandfather suffered a brain injury in a car accident.
…………………..
Things “took a turn”? Why use the passive to describe his *beating a homeless man with a metal bar*?
And how many people have had grandparents suffer medical problems without turning to this kind of savagery?
More:
…“You’re pretty much fighting for survival,” Aden said. “We actually came to America to have better life.”…
…………………..
This makes if sound as though it was America that failed this family, instead of the other way around.
More:
The families arrived in Salt Lake City in 2004 when she was 5 and Mohamed was 6. Here, she saw grass and snow for the first time.
…………………..
That means that this Mohammedan has been in the United States for twelve years–almost two thirds of his life. The idea that this violence somehow stemmed from experiences he probably can barely remember is absurd.
And a small point, but it is unlikely that someone can have spent time in Kenya without ever having seen grass…
More:
In a city that’s home to the headquarters for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, their Muslim faith stood out.
…………………..
It’s all the fault of those damned Mormon Infidels! Firstly, the family has been here for twelve years–surely they could have moved elsewhere during that period if the felt uncomfortable in the city that gave them sanctuary?
Besides, there are about the same population of Muslims–around .5%–in Salt Lake City as there are other groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists. How many of them are turning to violent crime as a result?
More:
Aden remembers classmates staring at her when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks came up in school.
…………………..
Once again, if you did not know better you would assume 9/11 had been some sort of attack on Muslims–instead of the Jihad atrocity it actually was.
More:
“They look at us like they’re disappointed,” she said. “I am Muslim, and I know what we’re practicing. It’s peace.”
…………………..
Tell that to the homeless man Mohamed was beating with a metal bar…
More:
The family joined a relatively large refugee population in Salt Lake City, where a healthy economy and LDS Church outreach programs can make it easier for people fleeing war-torn countries to find jobs and transition into life in the U.S.
…………………..
Wait–I thought those vicious Mormons were oppressing this Muslim family and making them feel uncomfortable? You mean they were actually helping them? No, that can’t be right…sarc/off
More:
Mohamed started getting in trouble with police at age 12, according to court records. He spent time in juvenile detention centers for theft, trespass and assault, most recently in September.
None of that prepared his family for the news that he had been shot by police.
…………………..
Notice they don’t say that none of that prepared them for learning that he had beaten a homeless man with metal bars…
Also, attributing this to the accident the grandfather was in is unlikely–age twelve is about the age that juvenile thugs are big enough to start committing adult crimes.
More:
Police say Mohamed and a second person were beating a man with metal sticks when officers intervened Feb. 27. The officers fired after Mohamed moved toward the beaten man instead of immediately obeying a command to drop the stick, police said.
But Aden said she’s heard a different version from friends who were at the scene. She said that the man said something that started an argument, and the two were preparing to fight with halves of a broomstick that Mohamed broke when police arrived.
…………………..
I don’t care if the victim did “say something”. Only barbarians would defend two young thugs beating a man with metal bars.
Nonetheless, this barbarian is being treated as a “Martyr”. Madness.
Meanwhile, how is the homeless man faring after having been beaten with metal bars by two assailants? This is a long article, and no one even asks about the *victim* of Jihad violent…
somehistory says
graven,
I believe you covered just about every point in the article. Excellent response.
How long does one stay a *refugee*? I was a baby once, so can I claim that things are hard for me in this cruel world run by those old enough to be adults?
Be it with metal or wood, a beating is a painful way to die.
So his grandfather doesn’t remember him…so what! I never knew my grandparents.
The whole thing is slobber, slobber because he’s a moslim, he came here and didn’t make good, and now he’s been shot because he was killing another person who might have *said something* he didn’t like.
I hear things I don’t like just about every day. If I was a gambler, I would bet that you and most others here do too. Not once have I attempted to beat the speaker.
This is all just so tiring.
In criminology, there are theories that include those who excuse what they do, not thinking of themselves as committing crimes because…”It wasn’t my fault”…”They won’t miss the money cause they’re rich,”…etc.
But *reporters* like this person for AP, and so many others, make the excuses for the criminals. The criminals don’t have to worry about not being able to think up a good excuse for what they did. And if they are moslim, it is already a part of the narrative…how could anyone hold them accountable?
bernie says
In general, Mormons are fairly tolerant, though they’ve been accused of some anti-black racism in the past. If you’re a “Gentile” (a non-Mormon) in Utah, you’re still allowed to drink alcohol in moderation, and even to smoke (which practicing Mormons find abhorrent) and you can practice non-Mormon religions as long as you don’t hurt other people. The official Mormon church now forbids polygamy, but there are some breakaway Latter Day Saints groups which practice it, though it’s illegal under the laws of the U.S. federal government, and state laws (including Utahn law).
davej says
Islam is a mental illness and if I hear of one more Mohammad inflicting violence and murder on innocent people …. I’ll vote for Trump.
Ten minutes later … Trump!
Barb says
Trump! No one ever said The President has to be a politician/lawyer.
Heather says
I love that. ‘islam is a mental illness’. Sums it up perfectly..
andrew sapia says
Was this settling entire Muslim communities right smack in the middle of Christian areas like Utah and Tennessee a deliberate thing by the government and why did it all accelerate after 9/11 when it should have been the opposite. Is the government so completely inept. Could you imagine accelerating Japanese immigration right after pearl harbor. Who the hell is in charge? What country does this to its self. I mean Islam declares war on you and blows up the most iconic landmark in your country and your response is import millions of Muslims, it’s retarded!
Richard Paulsen says
Noe I do understand why they are escaping to the rich world. They can send home three times the global aid. The U.S.A. is especially generous.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/aug/18/global-remittance-industry-choking-billions-developing-world
gravenimage says
That’s part of it, Richard–the other part is “Hijira”–invading Dar-al-Harb and Islamizing it.
Richard Paulsen says
True.
islam :- the religion of idiots says
We you have to have some hope with the cops, at least they shot at him, instead of a good whipping with a wet bus ticket ….
Tintin says
Just had hundreds of rioting Somalians here in Melbourne, Australia. Robbing and assaulting people. We’re being governed by the same idiotic Mussi-lovers as everywhere else.
gravenimage says
Yes–this violence happened *over Christmas*:
“African Rioting Tears through Melbourne”
http://newobserveronline.com/african-rioting-tears-through-melbourne/
Of course the main factor is not that they are African, but that they are Muslim.
Beanie says
They should send him home, revoke citizenship. He has made NOTHING of his residency here but crime.
Wakeup says
I’m not clear on this is the bastard dead now or not?
gravenimage says
Nope–just “critically wounded”. Check the first line of the story.
Jay Boo says
But Aden said she’s heard a different version from friends who were at the scene. She said that the man said something that started an argument
————————————–
“the man said something that started an argument”
WHAT?
Not again. How many time have we heard that phony ass excuse for bad behavior of the perpetrator.
Fred says
The different story heard by his relatives, that we’re present during the beating of the homeless person ? Did It go like this ? They only beating a non believer, that refused to pay jizya tax? No crime in Somalia.
Pliny The Elder says
Now theyll put him in US prison where he can….learn Islam.
gravenimage says
How is the poor beaten homeless guy doing? There appears to be no concern about this, but just endless hand-wringing over the Muslim thug who was beating him with a metal bar.
Herman says
“But Aden said she’s heard a different version from friends who were at the scene”
Exactly what mozlims do: lying to protect their own….
NEVER EVER trust mozlims!
b.c.terry says
Critically wounded becoming fatally shot would become fitting justice.