Boise refugee shot by police faces many charges. Family says city wants to ‘silence us’
The Somali refugee who Boise police shot at the end of June was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of 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, who was for the first time positively identified by police late Wednesday afternoon, more than two weeks after the June 27 shooting that left him hospitalized, was served a warrant for several felony counts. They include lewd conduct with a minor under 16, aggravated assault, aggravated assault on law enforcement personnel, and use of a firearm or deadly weapon during the commission of a crime, according to a Boise Police Department news release.
Mkoma also was arrested on suspicion of several misdemeanors, including unlawful entry, eluding a peace officer and violation of a protection order.
The shooting of the 33-year-old has elicited the ire and frustration of Boise’s Bantu refugee community, who gathered outside City Hall on Tuesday night to protest what they say is a false narrative about the events the day of the shooting and a lack of information. Other than the arrest and BPD’s 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. ... Every time we ask police questions they tell us it is under investigation, and now they charged him with charges we don’t understand. 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 sisters 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 placed on paid administrative leave after the incident, per standard department policy.
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 refugee community 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.
Haley Williams, a BPD spokesperson, said she could not comment on Mkoma’s current condition, other than to say he is still hospitalized, and also could not elaborate on the charges. She said in an emailed statement that “any additional information about these charges or the investigation will come out through the courts.”
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, the release 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.
This story was originally published July 14, 2021 at 5:22 PM.
