Court documents detail Mkoma shooting — and the series of events that preceded it
Three weeks after the criminal case against Mohamud Hassan Mkoma was suspended because he was declared mentally unfit for trial, an Idaho judge reaffirmed the finding that the defendant is not an imminent threat to others, meaning Mkoma will remain in the custody of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
Mkoma was shot by Boise police officers north of the Hillside to Hollow Reserve on June 27 after authorities say he was suspected of abducting a teenager, brandished a knife at the child and threatened an officer. Mkoma was charged with multiple felony counts, including lewd conduct with minors, aggravated assault and use of a firearm or deadly weapon during the commission of a crime.
On Oct. 4, after reviewing a mental evaluation, Magistrate Judge David Manweiler found Mkoma mentally unfit to assist in his own defense and to make informed decisions about his treatment, according to court records. As a result, the case against Mkoma was suspended and he was committed to the custody of Health and Welfare.
Mkoma was sent to State Hospital South in Blackfoot, according to his defense attorney, Mikela “Mike” French — who has laid out in court records some of the details of the shooting. She asserts that police fired 20 times at Mkoma, hitting him with five shots, while the teen was still in a vehicle with him.
In a preliminary hearing on Monday, the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office asked the court to reconsider its finding regarding Mkoma. Prosecutors argued that Mkoma was “dangerously mentally ill” — meaning a person presents a “substantial risk of physical harm to other persons,” according to Idaho Code — and should be sent to a Department of Correction facility.
Magistrate Judge Adam Kimball denied the motion, according to court records.
According to documents filed by his attorney, Mkoma — a Somali Bantu refugee — has schizophrenia and speaks limited English, and the teenager he had with him was his son. The documents say police executed a pit maneuver on Mkoma’s vehicle — whereby the rear of the vehicle is struck to spin it and bring it to a stop — and then shot him after unsuccessfully trying to get the teen out of the vehicle. Mkoma’s heart stopped and he had a stroke, and he spent weeks recovering in the hospital, according to French.
Over the summer, members of Boise’s Bantu refugee community met with city leaders to discuss the shooting and ask for more information about what happened. There were protests held in July, but those subsided after Mkoma was charged with the long list of felonies.
Before his Oct. 4 hearing, Mkoma underwent a mental evaluation, which is sealed, and he was later remanded to DHW custody. He is not to be housed for longer than 90 days at the state hospital, where he is being further evaluated. If he is determined fit to stand trial, court proceedings may resume.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Health and Welfare responded to inquiries about Mkoma by saying the agency “cannot comment on specific cases.”
MKOMA SPENT WEEKS AT ADA COUNTY JAIL
On Sept. 16, a court-appointed guardian for Mkoma, Glenda Talbutt, visited him at the Ada County Jail. Under Idaho law, a guardian at litem is directed to independently advocate for the defendant’s best interests.
In his cell, Mkoma’s “nails were overgrown, he was extremely thin, he talked at a very quiet volume, and he did not make eye contact,” according to a written declaration from Talbutt. And in a document filed on Oct. 19, French wrote that she had seen the cell was “littered with old food and trash.”
In an interview with the Idaho Statesman, French said the jail helped facilitate her visits with Mkoma and also allowed her to send him a religious text in his language. He spent around three weeks incarcerated there.
In an emailed statement, Patrick Orr, a spokesperson for the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail, said Mkoma was provided with clean clothes, bedding and three dietitian-approved meals a day.
“Like all inmates, where he sat and how he dressed were up to him,” Orr said. “… How the inmate acts in custody is exclusively up to them, including how tidy they keep their living area. If a living area is considered unsafe or unsanitary, our staff can clean it. If an inmate wanted their nails trimmed, they can ask for that to happen.”
Mkoma was mostly housed in the jail’s Health Services Unit, which is a licensed health care facility, Orr said. He said staff “would be aware of any medical or language issues.”
Orr also said Mkoma was classified as “high risk” because of the events that led to his arrest and because of his history at the jail.
DEFENSE OUTLINES WHAT LED TO SHOOTING
In its motion to find Mkoma “dangerously mentally ill,” the prosecutor’s office outlined his criminal record.
In 2016, Mkoma was charged with felony battery on a law enforcement officer, which was later reduced to a misdemeanor. According to his defense team, Mkoma’s 2016 charges were a result of his spitting at police officers. Mkoma spent several days in jail, accepted a plea agreement and was fined more than $1,150.
In 2018, Mkoma violated the terms of his probation and spent several days in jail, according to court records. While at the Ada County Jail, the prosecutor’s office alleges that he was not “compliant,” and at one point tried to kick a deputy. In another incident, he tried to leave his cell, saying, “I go home now.”
French argued that Mkoma is not violent or a danger to others.
In May 2021, Mkoma called authorities because “his ex-wife was not allowing him to see his children,” according to the defense’s court documents. Shortly afterward, law enforcement began investigating him for sexual abuse of his children, French wrote.
At the end of June, Mkoma took his son — who has a developmental disability, according to the defense — during his “non-custodial time.” Three of the 10 counts Mkoma faces involve allegations that he broke into an apartment to take the child, breaking “a window and/or table leg” in the process.
Contrary to the prosecution, which argues that Mkoma tried to stab the child and an officer after police stopped his vehicle, the defense says Mkoma was in a state of crisis and feared for his son, and was acting in the boy’s defense.
“The limited evidence produced in discovery,” French wrote, “points to the more likely scenario that Mr. Mkoma was undergoing a mental health crisis in which he imagined his son was in danger.”
After Mkoma eluded police at low speeds, the defense says officers brought the vehicle to a stop before “encroaching from all sides with weapons drawn, yelling conflicting commands at him in a foreign language, until one of them opened the passenger door and reached for his son. Mr. Mkoma made a defensive maneuver with the knife he was holding, to protect his son, and officers unloaded 20 bullets into the vehicle, spraying glass and shrapnel over his son — who was thereby injured and very nearly shot.”
Three officers were involved in the shooting, each of whom was placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard policy. A spokesperson for the Boise Police Department declined to comment on the shooting, given that the criminal case is pending. Investigations into the shooting by the Ada County Critical Incident Task Force and city of Boise Office of Police Accountability are ongoing, as is an internal review by BPD.
Mkoma will next appear in court Monday for a preliminary hearing. French said Health and Welfare will report on her client’s mental fitness in the coming weeks.
