Suspect in weekend attack entered U.S. through Mexico, officials say
Man was detained, ordered deported, released from custody then disappeared
A man believed to be the suspect in an attack that injured five people in Edmonton over the weekend was detained days after arriving in the United States from Mexico, U.S. officials said.
Abdullahi Hassan Sharif, who sources say is the same person as Abdulahi Hasan Sharif, the man charged with attempted murder after a knife and vehicle attack in Edmonton on Sept. 30, entered the United States at a pedestrian crossing near San Diego, Calif., in 2011, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Sharif is originally from Somalia, RCMP officials said. He made an asylum claim at a Canada-U.S. border crossing in 2012 and was granted refugee status later that year, according to the office of federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.
On July 12, 2011, Sharif arrived at the San Ysidro port of entry near San Diego on foot with no documents and no legal status to enter the U.S., said CBP spokeswoman Jacqueline Wasiluk.
CBP officers took him into custody, and he was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He was detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on July 15, 2011.
Wasiluk had no information on how long Sharif had been in Mexico. He had no known criminal history at the time of his encounter with ICE.
On Sept. 22, 2011, an immigration judge ordered Sharif removed to Somalia, and Sharif waived his right to appeal the decision. About a month later, on Nov. 23, Sharif was released from custody on a supervision order due to a “lack of likelihood of his removal in the reasonably foreseeable future,” U.S. immigration officials said in a statement.
Sharif did not report to U.S. immigration officials on Jan. 24, 2012, the day he was to be removed, and law enforcement officials could not track him down.
Sharif was arrested after a city police officer was rammed by a car, then stabbed, outside Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday, and a U-Haul truck led police on a chase in downtown Edmonton early Sunday. The truck deliberately swerved to strike four pedestrians, police said.
Sharif is charged with five counts of attempted murder, as well as dangerous driving and possession of a weapon.
The RCMP K-Division Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams has put out a call for any photos and videos of the attack. Contact them at 780-449-0209.