Jewish leaders press hate crime charges and calm down after a man was shot on his way to West Ridge Synagogue

Leaders of Chicago's Jewish community pushed for hate crime charges Tuesday against a man accused of shooting an Orthodox Jew near a West Ridge synagogue, citing wounds sustained in a shootout with the suspect police, was too incapacitated to attend his first court hearing.

The 22-year-old suspect, Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, remained on a ventilator in hospital because of gunshot wounds he sustained in the shooting and could not be interviewed by police, who said they still did not know his motive.

Home surveillance video shared with the Sun-Times shows the moments the suspect returned to the scene and opened fire a second time, sparking the gun battle with police.

Jewish leaders said they hope authorities will be able to file hate crime charges but urged the community to show patience as police continue to investigate the shooting “if we want the charges to stand.” .”

According to police, the 39-year-old victim was walking in the 2600 block of West Farwell Avenue around 9:30 a.m. Saturday when a man following him opened fire, hitting the victim in the shoulder.

As paramedics rendered aid to the victim and officers examined the scene, the gunman emerged from an alley and fired at officers, hitting a Chicago Fire Department ambulance, police said. The police returned fire and hit him several times.

The suspect is said to have said something to officers during the shooting, although it is unclear what it was. But the suspect said nothing before he shot the Jewish man a few minutes earlier, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling told reporters on Monday.

“We landed on the ground”

On home doorbell video, the suspect can be seen coming out of a driveway, shooting toward a dog handler and then running down the street toward where police are investigating on West Farwell Avenue. The suspect leaves the camera's field of view before a second volley of shots erupts.

A second video from the corner where police were investigating shows the suspect turning the corner on a sidewalk between Farwell and Washtenaw streets. An officer is seen taking cover near a door and opening fire.

The suspect falls to the ground, then extends his arm holding a pistol before collapsing face up amid more gunfire. The police officer can be seen shooting at least a dozen times in view of the house camera.

According to Temple Schultz, who shared the video with the Sun-Times, officers, still taking cover, then yell at the suspect to hand him over.

Schultz was at her home when the second shooting occurred.

“We landed on the ground,” she said. “And then we kept hearing the officers say, 'Turn on your stomach.'” She approached a window and saw the suspect sprawled on the sidewalk, with a puddle of blood nearby.

Schultz said she couldn't remember a shooting on the block in the 18 years she's lived there.

The woman who provided the first video said she was looking out her front window when the suspect returned and opened fire on a dog handler.

“He shot him once [the dog walker]just one shot,” said Malka, who asked to be identified only by her first name. “He then walked forward and started shooting at the police.”

Malka said she feared for her life when she saw the gunman and assumed he was targeting her home, which has a large half-Israeli, half-American flag hanging on the porch.

Jewish leaders call for hate crime charges

Rabbis and the head of the local chapter of the Anti-Defamation League called the shooting a realization of the Jewish community's “worst fears.”

The attempted murder charges against Abdallahi are “a good start,” said David Goldenberg, Midwest regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. But he urged patience from those who want hate crime charges also filed.

“I have been involved in literally dozens of hate crime investigations over the past few years, and I know that sometimes we must be patient if we want the charges to stick, even when our experiences seem to make it clear and obvious,” said Goldenberg said.

Cook County Judge Deidre Dyer ordered Abdallahi jailed Tuesday, but no new details were revealed at the hearing. Police Officer Ed Kelly said Abdallahi was in the intensive care unit at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston.

A deputy prosecutor did not provide a motive. The prosecutor said the suspect shot a man and opened fire on five police officers and two emergency workers.

Speaking from a Jewish center on the North Side, Goldenberg also urged people not to respond to the attack with hatred or “bad words.”

“I call on our own community, regardless of the anger, fear, exhaustion and despair that we all feel, myself included, not to use this incident as an excuse to spread hatred against others,” he said. “It will neither prevent the next attack nor help the victim recover faster. It may feel good, but it will only add gasoline to an already blazing fire.”

“It wasn’t just another shooting.”

The Jewish leaders said the attack comes amid rising anti-Semitism, documented by a recent FBI hate crimes report that shows Jews make up 2% of the country's population and are targeted in 15% of all hate crimes.

Shlomo Soroka, director of government affairs at Agudath Israel Illinois, said he had spoken to the victim of the attack, who he said was an Orthodox Jew. Soroka said Orthodox Jews are most vulnerable to attacks because they are easily identified by their clothing and because they do not drive on Saturdays during the Sabbath, they have to live within walking distance of their synagogue.

Soroka said the victim of Saturday's attack normally brings his two young daughters to synagogue but did not do so that day.

“Could you imagine what would have happened if those little girls had been with them?” Soroka asked.

Rabbi Levi Mostofsky, executive director of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, said the shooting was different from typical gun violence seen across the city.

“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 synagogue in an otherwise quiet neighborhood, we are terrorized,” Mostofsky said.

Contributor: Andy Grimm