Calls for hate crime charges over Jewish man's shooting death in Chicago

A Chicago man has been charged with 14 felony counts after he allegedly shot and killed a Jewish man who was on his way to a local synagogue. But some community leaders question why hate crime charges haven't been filed.

Chicago police said Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, 22, is accused of shooting an unidentified 39-year-old man wearing a kippah, the Jewish skullcap, in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. The victim was shot multiple times and was treated at a local hospital before being released Saturday afternoon.

“During the shooting, the perpetrator approached a 39-year-old man and without a word shot him in the shoulder,” Superintendent Larry Snelling said at a news conference Monday. Snelling said there was not enough evidence to mention hate crime charges on the list, but said it remained a possibility.

The suspect then opened fire on first responders before being arrested, police said. The suspect was shot by police and is also being treated at a local hospital. A detention hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

Abdallahi is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm at officers and firefighters.

50th District Ald. Debra Silverstein, who attends the same synagogue, reported increasing fear among local Jews at the same press conference. “A man wearing a yarmulke while walking to synagogue was shot and that only increased our fears.”

Silverstein later wrote in a message to voters that she was “very disappointed” that hate crime charges were not included in the docket despite “evidence suggesting an anti-Semitic motive for the shooting.”

Rabbi Shlomo Soroka of Agudath Israel of Illinois told NBC Chicago: “There's no question that it's disappointing from an emotional standpoint. But I think it's just as important to understand that whether or not there is a hate crime allegation is a formality. That doesn’t change the reality of our experience.”

Responding to a question about rising tensions in the region, Snelling said: “We know what’s going on in the world right now. And we know how this can impact neighborhoods, communities and people of faith.”

“It’s not lost on us that paraphernalia of hate is being passed around.”

The FBI said it was aware of the shooting and was working with local, state and federal law enforcement to provide resources and assistance.

“Illinoisians deserve to feel safe as they walk the streets of our neighborhoods, and we are committed to doing our part to restore a sense of calm to the community,” the agency said in a statement .

According to the ADL Center on Extremism, attacks on Jews in the United States have tripled in less than a year after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7. Attacks on Muslims and Arabs in the USA have also increased, said the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Sunday marked six years since a gunman opened fire on a congregation at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 people in the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history.