Homicide victim’s brother gunned down 15 years later
A 27-year-old shooting victim clinging to life in hospital was just a boy when his older brother was knifed to death 15 years ago.
Abdilah Faghi, 27, was shot once in the chest Sunday evening near Brookfield High School in what was the city’s 22nd shooting of the year. Faghi underwent surgery and remains in hospital in critical but stable condition.
Faghi’s older brother Abdi Samad Faghi was just 18 when he was stabbed in the chest in a bloody knife fight outside a Lowertown community centre in February 2000, the Citizen has learned.
A second young man, a youth worker who tried to intervene in the brewing conflict between a group of boys, was stabbed in the abdomen in that fight but survived. A 16-year-old boy was charged with his assault and later pleaded guilty to the knifing. His identity is shielded by a publication ban.
Faghi’s brother’s homicide, though, remains unsolved. But witnesses did come forward, some 20 minutes later, saying they saw Abdi Samad leaving with a friend. He hailed a taxi to the hospital, where he died hours later.
Homicide detectives, who took the shooting case Sunday night after the near-fatal bullet was fired, continue to investigate and are appealing for the public’s help.
“Anyone with any information that can assist us, we’d like them to come forward,” said Staff Sgt. Rob Drummond, who heads the major crime unit.
Faghi is known to police, who have had extensive interactions with the alleged cocaine dealer. The young man, whose shooting police believe is drug related, does have a criminal record that includes multiple convictions for drug possession. In 2012, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest on drug trafficking and possession charges.
Police have been unable to interview him because of the extent of his injuries.
Four men were seen fleeing the shooting scene, but police have yet to determine whether any of those men were involved in the shooting or were with Faghi at the time and fled when the shot was fired. Police also seized a Mazda 6 from the crime scene.
Five children remained in the Faghi family after Abdi Samad’s death. Their father had died in wartorn Somalia before they moved to Canada.
Efforts to reach Faghi’s family Wednesday were unsuccessful.