Hate crime and terrorism charges were announced Thursday after a Jewish man was shot while walking to synagogue in Chicago over the weekend in what police now say was a “targeted” attack.
Police had earlier this week announced multiple charges against 22-year-old Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, who originally faced six counts of attempted first-degree murder and seven for aggravated discharge of a firearm at officers and firefighters, among other charges.
On Thursday, Abdallahi was charged with an additional felony count of terrorism and one felony count of a hate crime, Chicago’s top cop, Supt. Larry Snelling, said.
“We want everybody to know that we will never tolerate violence that’s rooted in hate and bigotry,” Snelling said during a press conference announcing the charges.
Have things really gotten that bad?
Gotten? When I was a kid in the 80s, the temple my grandparents went to every week was firebombed. Thankfully no one was inside at the time.
When I was in grade 4 my living room window got shot up by 7 or 8 bbs because we had a menorah in the window. Another time, my next door neighbours toppled our snow mountain down in front of our house with their snow plow while yelling “fucking k***s”.
That’s how I learned what that word meant