Formal charges filed against Boise refugee suspected of lewd acts with minor, assault
The Somali refugee who Boise police shot at the end of June was charged Wednesday with a slew of crimes, but his family and supporters said that they won’t be deterred from protesting and that their “demands still stand: transparency, accountability, safety and communication.”
Mohamud Hassan Mkoma, 33, of Boise, was formally charged by the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office with six felony counts Wednesday afternoon, the same day that the Boise Police Department announced his arrest. The BPD news release was the first time the department positively identified the suspect who officers shot in the June 27 incident, which for more than two weeks has left the man hospitalized.
The charges include three felony counts of lewd conduct with a minor under 16 stemming from an alleged incident in January 2020, according to Ada County court records. They also entail single felony counts of aggravated assault, aggravated assault on law enforcement personnel, and use of a firearm or deadly weapon during the commission of a crime, the online court record database shows.
Mkoma also was charged with four misdemeanors, including unlawful entry, eluding a peace officer and violation of a protection order.
The police shooting of the Black East African man has elicited the ire and frustration of Boise’s Bantu community, which gathered outside City Hall on Tuesday night to protest what the group says is a false narrative about the events the day of the shooting and a lack of information. Other than the arrest and the release of the charges, there have not been additional details publicized.
Police have declined to reveal Mkoma’s relationship with the 14-year-old who was with him the day he was shot, but members of his family say he is the child’s father. They also say that their loved one speaks limited English and takes medications for treatment of the mental illness schizophrenia.
“Could they have approached this whole thing different if it was someone that was Caucasian? Someone with mental health illnesses should have never been shot,” Hawo Mkoma, a younger sister, told the Idaho Statesman via text message Wednesday evening. “No one should be treated that way. ... We will not be silenced just because of those changes. We will continue to raise an awareness of this and that it should never happen again to anyone.”
Mkoma’s sister also said that police want to “silence us by charging him with charges that we are unaware of.”
“Our demands still stand: transparency, accountability, safety and communication. Our brother should have never been shot with three officers. Was using lethal their first thought? They did not treat my brother in the right way,” she said via text.
Officers Steve Martinez, Aaron Hartje and Jeff Ridgeway were involved in the shooting and were each placed on paid administrative leave after the incident, per standard department policy. BPD spokesperson Haley Williams declined Thursday to say whether the three officers have returned to regular work, citing a personnel matter.
Kituta Asimba, a member of Boise’s African community who was at Tuesday’s protest, said that a lot of questions still remain unanswered, and that the police body-camera footage and 911 call records need to be released.
“If Mohamud wasn’t a person of color, would the response be the same as it was handled?” Asimba told the Statesman by phone. “I don’t think that there is any justification regardless of those charges for Mohamud to be shot.”
Mana Mohamed, an East African refugee community representative, told the Statesman that the group would keep pressing for answers. “Police releasing that information is a way for our community to stay quiet. And we are not going to stay quiet,” she said by text message, referring to the charges.
The ACLU of Idaho believes it is appropriate for BPD to release the body-cam footage and 911 call even while a pair of outside investigations into the June 27 police shooting are conducted.
“The public’s interest in how police officers use potentially lethal force is overwhelming. These should be released, as Mr. Mkoma’s family and the Bantu community deserve answers,” Lauren Bramwell, ACLU of Idaho’s policy strategist, said in a written statement to the Statesman. “Police having exclusive control over, and then refusing to release the footage to Mr. Mkoma’s family, frays any semblance of dignity and trust.”
On June 27, police stated that Mkoma, who “is known to the family,” entered a residence and left with a 14-year-old child. “Based on evidence officers believed the boy was in immediate danger and began an investigation to find him,” the news release said.
After a search, officers located a vehicle being driven by the suspect, police said. After a confrontation, the “officers were forced to fire their weapons.”
The shooting is under investigation by the Ada County Critical Incident Task Force, led by the Garden City Police Department. The Boise Police Department’s Office of Police Oversight also is conducting an official inquiry.
This story was originally published July 15, 2021 at 4:15 PM.
