One of the three young men arrested last week near the scene of a West Seattle armed robbery told police he was part of a group that used a pellet gun in at least seven robberies near Cal Anderson Park this summer, according to charging papers filed Monday against the trio.
Najib Aden, 21, told police he, Hassan Abdirizak, 19, and Abdulkadir Ahmed, 22 used his aunt’s car to drive around the park to find victims. When they found a victim, Aden told police that he would drop off Ahmed, watch him commit the robbery, then drive the group away.
The King County Prosecutors office has charged three men with two counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery for the incidents that occurred in West Seattle the night of their arrest. According to the charging papers, the investigation into the Capitol Hill robberies is ongoing and more charges against the trio could follow.
Abdirizak, Aden, and Ahmed were arrested on Friday when officers stopped the men in a car near the scene of the third robbery. Witnesses positively identified one of the suspects as the assailant, as well as personal belongings found inside the suspect’s getaway car. The prosecutors office asked the court set bail at $250,000 for each suspect.
“They drove around looking for victims, then one would approach the victims and point what appeared to be a firearm at them to take their belongings. In one instance defendant Ahmed hit the Victim over the head with what appeared to be a firearm because the victim was being too loud and he wanted him to quiet down. These defendants also admitted to being involved in a number of other robberies that are still under investigation. Additional charges are likely.”
According to charging papers, Aden is on a deferred sentence for a harassment incident earlier this summer. The other two suspects have no criminal record.
Let’s press these perps and see how they selected their victims.
I think they picked people who were walking around alone late at night–what’s your point? But moving on, thanks to the police and prosecutors for nabbing and charging these creeps!
My point is that we would do well to avoid behavior that attracts criminals’ attention. There are many people walking alone late at night – I doubt that all their victims were simply selected at random.
It’s pretty simple. They were looking for easy prey. Drunk people, people walking alone, in the dark, not a lot of people around. Cal Anderson, late at night, is the perfect spot for those features.
I believe it is still an armed robbery charge regardless.
Lock ’em up and throw away the key.
Not saying I would’ve been brave enough to test out my theory if I was held up, but I knew it was a fake gun!
Now that I’m done verbally patting my back, I’m so glad these assholes got caught.
Most contemporary pellet guns look no different that a normal gun, even police issue hand guns. Especially if you have never inspected either, up close, in daylight.
Alone, late at night, maybe a little buzzed or tired from work, maybe with your headphones in, and somebody steps out from behind a bush and puts it to the back of your head.
The only thing you’d be able to tell the difference between is if you pissed or shit yourself, tough guy.
If you do find yourself with one of these pointed at you, the muzzle opening will let you know what’s inside. A BB/pellet gun is going to be .177 caliber, and a very small opening at the muzzle. A .22 a bit bigger (but very noticeable if you’ve shot them before) and the more common calibers (.380/9mm/.40/.45 etc) will be very apparent that they are either real firearms, or replicas of actual firearms)
With that said, a pellet, especially fired at close range by a CO2 powered pistol is going to sting and could penetrate into places where you don’t want it to and cause a lot of injury. If you’re not prepared to fight it out while getting shot with pellets, it’s probably better to run or comply even if facing one of these.
……the offspring of immigrants…..rotating, roving bands of young men with no money and no prospects; not a huge problem right now but, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
The mayor needs to get some Islamic outreach to go through Cal Anderson a couple times a week; however, the same exact profiles can be seen throughout the city.
Not bad kids, but boredom and no prospects with young men is always a recipe for failure regardless of background–these young men just have additional hurtles to negotiate.
Yes they are “bad kids” if they are engaging in this criminal behavior. There are many disadvantaged youth in Seattle and most of them do NOT commit crimes. Please stop making excuses for those amoral thugs who prey on others.
……as one who reads the papers, you should know that we have serious incarceration problems–we cannot afford to just keep putting young people in jail.
In this case, city leader outreach to Islamic leaders regarding idle unemployed youth congregating to the point of crime could nip much of these behaviors in the bud, and save you, average joe citizen and taxpayer, a lot of money.
I agree that such outreach might….might….help prevent some crime. But once thugs do commit a crime, they need to be held accountable, and not just get a slap on the wrist. If that means jail time at taxpayer expense, so be it.
Two words: Hunger Games
[…] are being charged with two counts of first degree robbery and a third count of attempted robbery. CHS detailed the information collected by detectives and prosecutors in the case last month including what police say was an admission by one of the trio that he used his aunt’s […]
[…] are being charged with two counts of first degree robbery and a third count of attempted robbery. CHS detailed the information collected by detectives and prosecutors in the case last month including what police say was an admission by one of the trio that he used his aunt’s […]
[…] robbery around the same time in the same area of the park last Friday night. Earlier this summer, three men were charged for what police said was a street robbery spree including at least seven pellet gunpoint robberies […]