Refugee who fled violence mourns slain daughter

BOISE, Idaho — Little Ruya Kadir had sparkling eyes, a few basic belongings and not much else when she arrived in Boise more than two years ago.

But at just 6 months old, she had the most important thing: A mother who loved her so fiercely that she left behind her homeland, her husband and everything she knew so Ruya would grow up in a safe place.

Ruya was at her 3rd birthday party — complete with a pink doll-shaped cake and a Disney princess banner — Saturday evening when a man armed with a large knife attacked. Ruya and five other children were badly injured, along with the three adults who tried to protect them.

Timmy Kinner, a 30-yearold homeless man who had briefly been a guest at the apartment complex where Ruya lived, has been charged with first-degree murder and several other felonies in connection with the attack.

And Ruya’s mother Bifituu Kadir is mourning her little girl, slain in the very community that was supposed to keep her safe.

Police say Kinner had recently been asked to leave the apartment complex because of bad behavior. They say the attack does not appear to be a hate crime.

“I remember Ruya when she was just a little bundle in my arms,” said Megan Schwab, an employment specialist with the International Rescue Committee who befriended Bifituu and Ruya when they first arrived in Boise as Ethiopian refugees in December 2015.

“It was a very long journey, not something she talks about a lot but I do know she was fleeing violence,” Schwab said. “She was alone with her little baby and very strong ... she had a lot of resolve to protect her baby and create a new life for them.”

One other child injured in the attack has since been released from the hospital, but some of the remaining seven victims face long roads to recovery, said Julianne Donnelly Tzul, the executive director of the IRC of Boise. All of the injured were refugees from Ethiopia, Syria and Iraq.

Many have reached out to help, including Boise’s Muslim community and other religious and social groups. But a crime as horrific as this one means the refugee families will have needs that stretch into the coming years, not just the next few weeks, Donnelly Tzul said.