There are growing calls to charge illegal immigrants with hate crimes in the shooting of a Jewish man

Jewish leaders in Chicago are calling on police to charge the illegal immigrant accused of shooting a Jewish man with a hate crime. A Jewish group is criticizing the city's mayor for neglecting the victim's faith in a statement about the heinous act.

Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, an illegal immigrant from Mauritania in Africa, faces 14 felony charges, including six counts of attempted murder, for shooting a Jewish man multiple times on his way to a synagogue in Chicago. Local Jewish leaders believe this was a targeted hate crime, but no hate crime charges have been filed at this time.

According to police, he attacked the 39-year-old male victim Saturday morning in Chicago's West Rogers Park neighborhood. Police said the suspect was identified less than 30 minutes after the shooting. At this point he is said to have shot at the emergency services before the police “returned fire and hit the perpetrator”. The victim, who was wearing traditional Jewish clothing, survived the attack.

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Police said they recovered a weapon at the scene and that Abdallahi was “taken into custody, transported to an area hospital and subsequently charged accordingly.”

The victim was shot in the shoulder and is recovering at home, according to 50th Ward Councilwoman Debra Silverstein.

On Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, released a statement condemning the attack and expressing his “sincere thoughts and prayers” with the victim, but did not mention that the victim is Jewish.

That prompted Chicago's Jewish Community Relations Council, an umbrella group of 43 major Jewish organizations in the Windy City, to quickly denounce the mayor's omission.

“They were unable to determine that the victim was a Jewish man from a densely populated Jewish neighborhood who went to the synagogue for Shabbat morning prayers,” the group wrote on Recognize community?”

In his October 2023 post on the death of a Palestinian American, Johnson said, “We grieve alongside his family and the Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities across our state as we reckon with this unthinkable loss.”

In this case, authorities say a landlord in the Chicago suburb of Plainfield fatally stabbed the child and tried to kill his mother because of their Muslim faith and in response to the war between Israel and Hamas. According to the Associated Press, It also reported that the attacker had pleaded not guilty to charges of hate crime and murder.

Fox News Digital contacted Johnson's office for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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Gov. JB Pritzker directly referenced the victim's faith in a press release and advocated for adding hate crime charges. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

In contrast to Johnson, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, also a Democrat, directly referenced the victim's faith in a press release and advocated for adding hate crime charges.

“I am deeply disturbed by the shooting of an Orthodox Jewish man as he walked to his synagogue in West Regions Park on Saturday,” Pritzker wrote in a statement released Wednesday.

“I pray for the victim, his family and our entire Orthodox Jewish community and support all law enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute this senseless act of violence. “The shooter’s motivation deserves a full and thorough investigation to determine whether this should be additionally charged as a hate crime.”

Other Jewish community leaders say the attack was targeted.

“We believe in God, but we fear for ourselves; this shooting a few days ago was not just another act of violence,” Rabbi Levi Mostofsky, executive director of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, told ABC7 Chicago.

“It wasn’t just another shooting on the streets of Chicago. When an obviously Jewish person is shot for no reason on the way to the synagogue in an otherwise pleasant neighborhood, we are terrorized.”

The victim, described by the Jewish United Fund as a “member of a Jewish community,” was reportedly shot in the shoulder in Chicago. (Fox32Chicago)

David Goldenberg, Midwest regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, also suggested adding hate crimes.

“We strongly urge CPD and others to conduct a thorough investigation into the motives of these heinous crimes and add charges if necessary,” Goldenberg said, according to ABC7 Chicago.

The Midwest Regional Anti-Defamation League also released a statement Monday saying the community has faced “an onslaught of anti-Semitism” since Oct. 7, 2023 and before.

“Synagogues have been vandalized, Jewish community members have been attacked and harassed with anti-Semitic slurs and threats… As CPD's investigation continues, we want to make one thing clear: To the Jewish community, Saturday's crime feels like a hate crime, regardless of where the investigation takes place land.” ”

Silverstein said during a news conference Monday that the shooting had “shocked my community to its core.”

“I am concerned that there are no hate crime charges in this case. While the motive remains under investigation, the community is rightly concerned given the nature and timing of the attack,” Silverstein said.

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Police are investigating a shooting on Saturday, October 26, in Chicago's West Ridge neighborhood. (Fox32Chicago)

“While we respect the legal process and understand that charging decisions are complex, I, along with many others in my community, urge that all aspects of this case be fully investigated, including any bias or hate-related motivations,” she later added.

Four law enforcement agencies say Abdallahi was arrested in the Border Patrol's San Diego Sector in March 2023 and released into the United States

Mauritania is a Muslim-majority country in northwest Africa. The Department of Homeland Security considers illegal immigrants from Mauritania to be “special interest aliens” for security reasons and they should receive additional DHS screening.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initially told Fox News Digital that it had no interaction with the suspect. Law enforcement sources say there is a request to detain Abdallahi – a request that he be transferred to ICE custody if he is released – but that the “sanctuary” policies in Cook County, Illinois, are not clear to local authorities prohibit cooperation.

Fox News' Adam Shaw, Bill Melugin, Griff Jenkins and Greg Norman contributed to this report.