While his family keeps insisting that he is mentally ill, what was really happening here is clear: he had a Qur’an in the car, and had researched other possible venues for jihad attacks. He may really have mental health problems, and have turned to jihad in order to gain the blessings of Allah: “Fight them; Allah will punish them by your hands and will disgrace them and give you victory over them and satisfy the breasts of a believing people and remove the fury in the believers’ hearts.” — Qur’an 9:14-15
“L.A. synagogue suspect researched deadly terrorist attack in N.Y., detective says,” by James Queally, Los Angeles Times, April 3, 2019 (thanks to the Geller Report):
The Seattle man accused of trying to run over two Jewish men outside a Los Angeles synagogue last year in what prosecutors allege was a hate-fueled attack had previously researched a New York City terror act in which a vehicle was used to kill pedestrians, a detective testified in court Wednesday.
Mohamed Abdi Mohamed, 33, had searched online for information about a November 2017 terrorist attack that left eight people dead in lower Manhattan less than a day before he barreled his car toward two Jewish men outside Congregation Bais Yehuda late last year, according to Los Angeles Police Det. Easley De Larkin, who was testifying at a preliminary hearing in Mohamed’s case.
On Nov. 23, police said, Mohamed drove into an intersection near the synagogue as a number of people were leaving a Friday night service. He began to curse at the congregants and made anti-Semitic remarks while driving past, before attempting to run them down near La Brea and Oakwood avenues, police said.
The two men escaped unharmed. Mohamed tried to flee but was arrested after crashing his car a short time later.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Deborah S. Brazil ordered Mohamed to stand trial on charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with hate crime allegations during the 90-minute hearing. Prosecutors have contended he specifically targeted Jewish victims.
Mohamed is acting as his own attorney. Relatives who were in the courtroom left without commenting Wednesday. He has pleaded not guilty, and his family previously provided The Times with medical records showing he suffered from schizophrenia. They denied he held any ill will toward the Jewish community.
Police had initially expressed concern about the similarities between the incident outside the synagogue and other terrorist attacks around the globe that have involved the use of vehicles to ram pedestrians. A search of Mohamed’s cellphone revealed he had reviewed information about the Manhattan attack — in which a 29-year-old man drove a rental vehicle onto a riverfront bike path in New York City, killing eight people and injuring a dozen more — less than 24 hours before he arrived outside the Hancock Park synagogue, De Larkin said.
De Larkin testified that Mohamed had also searched for information about the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks prior to the incident. An “anti-Semitic pamphlet” that De Larkin described as “involving Jews and the entertainment industry and something needing to be done about it” was also found during a search of Mohamed’s Seattle residence, De Larkin said.
The missive, titled “A Straight Look at the Jewish Lobby,” was written by Mark Weber….
Police recovered a copy of the Koran and a 13-inch-long “buck knife” in Mohamed’s car after the November 2018 incident, according to De Larkin, who noted the similarities between that discovery and other vehicle attacks in which suspects have exited a crashed car and used a firearm or blade to attack injured victims….
Mohamed’s relatives said last year he was in dire need of mental health treatment, not a trial….
Mohamed is a U.S. citizen who entered the country as a refugee in the early 1990s with his family as they fled a civil war in Somalia, a relative told The Times last year. The relative spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their privacy….
Krishna says
Is he the mad man who tried to run over Jews by chanting Allah ?
K WAGNER says
I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t say “allah made me do it”!!!!!!!!!
mortimer says
Allah made it clear what he wants Muslims to do to kafirs … The Koran’s 164 Jihad Verses: K 002:178-179, 190-191, 193-194, 216-218, 244; 003:121-126, 140-143, 146, 152-158, 165-167,169, 172-173, 195; 004:071-072, 074-077, 084, 089-091, 094-095,100-104; 005:033, 035, 082; 008:001, 005, 007, 009-010, 012, 015-017, 039-048,057-060, 065-075; 009:005, 012-014, 016, 019-020, 024-026, 029,036, 038-039, 041, 044, 052, 073, 081, 083,086, 088, 092, 111, 120, 122-123; 016:110; 022:039, 058, 078; 024:053, 055; 025:052; 029:006, 069; 033:015, 018, 020, 023, 025-027, 050; 042:039; 047:004, 020, 035; 048:015-024; 049:015; 059:002, 005-008, 014; 060:009; 061:004, 011, 013; 063:004; 064:014; 066:009; 073:020; 076:008.
DBM echo says
“He may really have mental health problems, and have turned to jihad in order to gain the blessings of Allah”
If a person believes in the Islam Allah, that Mohammed was Allah’s last prophet, and that the Qur’an prescribes all of life’s principles, then the person has mental problems but are still accountable to our laws.
James Lincoln says
DBM,
Most mental health issues do NOT preclude accountability to the laws of the land.
Untreated schizophrenia, a total break from reality, is a diagnosis that would preclude accountability.
Just a belief in Islam – and acting on those beliefs – would not preclude accountability.
somehistory says
James Lincoln
In the Law, there are certain statutes that apply to those claiming mental issues as a “reason” for their illegal actions. Different States choose which statute they will apply in their jurisdictions, but all of them are close to the meaning of, “the person has to be unaware at the time of the crime that it was a crime, or he /she must not know that what is being done is wrong.” This is not the wording of any of the statutes that apply, but it has the basic meaning.
The definition of mental illness in the medical community is not the same as in the legal community. So, he might claim mental illness in his defense, which then becomes an “affirmative defense,” but then he will have to prove that at the time of the crime, he did not know what he was doing was wrong.
The police have found evidence that he planned the crime and he also tried to escape after attempting the murder of the two people. This sounds very much like he is guilty, whether or not islam makes a person mentally ill, or if he had mental problems besides what islam may cause.
I know of some cases where the defendant acted…”acted” as his own attorney, and in all of them, the defendant was found to be guilty.
James Lincoln says
somehistory,
You are, of course correct…
I oversimplified and was thinking of a medical model of accountability in relation to mental illness.
Medical folks tend to think of things like untreated schizophrenia, organic brain syndrome, etc., regarding responsibility for actions.
Legal definitions can certainly be different.
Much thanks for the info!
Enjoy your day.
somehistory says
James Lincoln
I appreciate your comments on the different threads where you use your knowledge of medicine to make a point. They are always helpful.
I believe a lot of people out in the public think that if a person is insane, it applies everywhere…medicine and law; and only through studying the legal aspects is it clear that each has its application.
This guy probably thinks he can say he is mentally ill and that will be enough to get him off. I hope he fails as a lawyer and pays as a defendant.
You have a good day, also.
antonia says
Schizophrenia would in most cases not be deadly on its own, but combined with Islam, schizophrenia could lead to unpredictable attacks, seeming at random to outsiders, but the result of voices telling the Muslim to kill kafirs and even quoting the Koran to justify it.
infidel says
Pleading mental illness after horrible horrible jehaad massacres is a time tested Taqiyya tactic..so what else is new??
Jaladhi says
These Somalis need to go back to Somalia to fight their jihad dreams. We don’t need them here!! Bringing Muslim refugees to non-Muslim lands is not a good decision as we see it all over the Western countries where they have been given shelter and they pay you back by killing you. That is gratitude a la Islam!! There is no peace in Islam and no gratefulness in Muslims!!
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
They denied he held any ill will toward the Jewish community.
But what about the commands of the Holy Ko-Ran, or the ideals set forth in the Hah-Deaths? Descendants of apes & pigs and the bush with a Jew hiding behind it begging to someone to kill him… that kind of stuff, Moslem stuff.
If this Mohamed A. Mohamed is let off on this crime, which he probably will be, then it’s time for Islamic Law to step into the breach to make him pay, whereupon he must be executed for apostasy.
Terra Nova says
Muslims will try till forever to get the West on their knees, they will go on, poking, lying, everything, till we get tired. iT was all very well organized and started the 2nd. World War with the Germans, and the Germans
started this mess, to make themselves feel better, but on our costs. Lovely !
But we have to stay very alert with this infantile, dangerous people.
MJP says
Mental Illness is what the Quran is all about it takes a weak mind & coerces & destroys a person’s mind with evil demonic garbage that calls for violence hatred, abusing children Animals, Women this phony Ideology needs to be banned in all Non Islamic Countries.