deadmonton 2011 - mohamud mohamed jama

Cathy Sheppard told media she woke up at around 3:00 a.m. after hearing loud noises and people yelling.

"I heard shots first and then I heard this girl screaming, 'Don’t! Don't do it again,' so maybe they were going to shoot somebody else too," Sheppard said.

"Then somebody said, "Let's get out of here.' "

Sheppard said several about 10 people then left in seven or eight cars.

Another neighbour said the restaurant hadn't been a source of trouble before.

"It's been open for about a couple of months. Never had any problems over here. Never seen anybody making any disturbances or anything but it's been pretty quiet until today," Jeff said.

A man inside the bar told the Edmonton Journal said the place wasn't particularly crowded despite New Year's Eve celebrations. But when the shooting started, the scene quickly turned to chaos.

"There was a gunshot and then everybody was running," the man said, adding that he didn't see the actual shooting.

It was at just that moment that Jay Hardy was nearby.

"Do you know what I mean by the analogy of rats running from a sinking ship? It was like that," Hardy said.

"We just happen to walk out to go to the store ... just everybody running ... running. And I'm like, 'hmm, maybe I don't want to be around here right now.' "

"We've spoke to a number of people that were in and around the bar there ... enough that have provided us with a clear understanding of what happened in there," Det. Don Curle said later.

"The victim was there and met somebody or more than one person, got into some type of disagreement over what we don't know yet."

Mahamad Accord, president of the Alberta Somali Community Centre, said Ayud was raised in Edmonton and was a family man looking forward to his firstborn.

"He wasn't involved with gangs or drugs. He was just celebrating the new year," Accord said. "What I know from the community is that he was a good kid."

Accord said Ayub was a "typical Canadian young man" and that his family was well-known in the community.

"It's devastating to any family, but this is double," he said.

"You have a mother and a family and you also have a young wife who is devastated.

"It's very, very horrible. Losing a kid is a horrible thing but at the same time when you have a family – I mean, imagine the child who will never know his father. It's a tragedy. And also you have a mother who is under stress, I mean, it's very challenging."

Accord said local Somalis continue to be on edge due to ongoing gun violence that has claimed over two-dozen lives in their Alberta community over the past five years. Most of the homicides remain unsolved.

"It is something that the community was trying to put behind."

Still, according to Accord, he wasn't surprised when he received the call about the shooting.

"I was shocked but not surprised," he said.

"Shocked because we were trying to put behind these years of youths dying in the community and we thought that that was the end of it, but not surprised because the situation that we've been dealing with the last five years haven't changed.

"The killing will continue because we have a municipal leadership who does not care or they don't know what to do about it," Accord said.

"It's a matter of time that this kind of thing happen because the condition has not changed. It's the same movie that we watch over and over and over ..."

Accord said his community was fed up and anxious for answers.

"It's a mixed feeling. One, you are mourning the loss [but] at the same time realising that there won't be any closure to this case, like the other ones," he said.

"What I heard from the community is they are really frustrated and I think they need answers."

That sentiment was also shared by Edmonton police.

"That's a frustration we're having right now," Det. Curle expressed.

"We know right now there are more than one person who was in that bar who clearly saw what happened and can provide us with very useful information, but these people are not coming forward and are not telling us all that they know about it and it has hampered the investigation so far."

Police figure there were 50 to 60 people inside the bar at the time.

Responding to the question about who needs to take the next step, Curle made it clear.

"It pertains to that community and there are people within that community that do have information that can assist us," he said.

"However, for whatever reason, they're not coming forward yet with it.

"We are quite certain there are people who can provide very helpful information to us but are choosing not to."

"First of all, these are my own personal comments and not necessarily those of the Edmonton Police Service," homicide Det. Bill Clark warned before making his statements.

"There is definitely more than one person who has seen our suspect, and we know that there are people inside who know our suspect," he began.

"They are outright either not providing the information, or withholding it for whatever reason.

"We are getting absolutely no cooperation from any of the witnesses involved.

"The investigation is going to go nowhere without cooperation. We believe they know exactly who killed this guy and none of them will say. If we got cooperation, this one we could easily solve.

"I have no doubt there are people in that bar that know exactly the name and the identity of that shooter, but if they don't want to give it, we can't force them so we are at a standstill."

Clark added he was disheartened that no one has stepped forward.

"We are ready to solve this crime and could probably have a good lead on suspects or at least know who we're dealing with if people would talk to us," he said.

"We know that the individual in hospital knows who shot him – he won't talk. We know there's other people inside who saw the suspect.

"Of all the people we interviewed, one person provides a suspect description – absolutely ludicrous.

"You can't tell me 50 people in the bar hear guns being fired inside – they all don't look? That's an automatic human reaction.

"You look where those shots are coming – you see who's doing the shooting."

Regarding accusations of dis-interest amongst local authorities, Clark didn't mince words.

"When we hear people in the Somali community and these ethnic communities complaining about city administration and that, it frustrates us.

"These community leaders, they need to go talk to the youth that were at this bar on that night and get them to come talk to us and we will solve this crime no questions asked.

"I'm sure they're fearful of retaliation," Clark said. "But if they're not going to step forward, where does it ever end?

Clark noted that an officer who has worked with the Somali community in the past had been assigned to the case. The veteran detective then issued a warning.

"There will be more killings because there's going to be retaliation. This guy's buddies are going to retaliate.

"A lot of these kids are gangsters and drug dealers," he added.

"These community leaders and some of the parents tend to turn a blind eye on this stuff and it doesn't help the situation.

"These people do not want to talk with us so how do we solve the crime? We should be wrapping this file up and working on files where people want to cooperate.

"So to me," Clark concluded, "our unit should be looking at this and going, okay – they don't want to cooperate, let's shut this one down – move on to the ones where the people want to cooperate.

"We have several unsolved files where we have good, identified suspects, all we need is time and manpower.

"We can only take this investigation so far. Once we run out of people who want to talk to us, we don't take it any further."

Reaction to the detective's comments came swiftly.

"Well I don't think it's the Somalis whose job it is to solve the crime. I think the police's job is to solve this crime," Hassan Ali said.

The Somali Cultural Society of Edmonton spokesman said it was unfair for Det. Clark to singularly label their group of 10,000.

"The community, made up of professionals, families and people who raise their children and we cannot blame anyone, either from the police or anyone else, cannot blame the whole community for that incident," Ali said.

"They try to blame the community – no, no ... we're not accepting that," Mahamad Accord, president of the Alberta Somali Community, said.

He added that his people want to cooperate with police but are often scared to come forward.

"They feel they are not protected by the police. Police need to come up with another game plan."

Accord suggested that in some past cases, witnesses were intimidated and sometimes threatened for speaking out.

"This is no joke. The people who are doing the killing have no respect for life. The gunman who killed him has no hesitation to come after another person."

Accord laid blame for the current situation at the feet of the mayor and the police service.

"It is squarely on the leadership, the city council and as well as with the police leadership.

"There's been no movement from government side or the police side. The community was trying very hard to do everything in their power but it's very limited what the community can do without the government's help."

Accord pointed out that more than half of Somalis living in the Edmonton area are young and often have trouble keeping themselves occupied, something that may have contributed to the latest shooting.

"It's not the first, it won't be the last," he said. "Each case is different, but we know that we have so many young people who have nothing to do.

"We are doing our best to provide alternatives to the Somali youth," Abdi said, citing after school sports and homework clubs held at the Africa Centre at 13160 127 Street.

"We want to enrich our youth with self-esteem and skills they need to be productive."

Despite it being nearly two decades since Somalis first started to arrive in Edmonton, with nearly an entire generation now born in Canada, Accord maintained that integration remains difficult.

Young Somali Canadians, he said, are caught between cultural identities, are discriminated against, and feel they are "not seen as Canadian."

Accord called on police and government to develop closer ties to the Somali community.

"We have a collective responsibility," he said. "I have a responsibility, the municipality has a responsibility, the police have a responsibility."

Accord cited a perception in the community that police are slow to respond to crimes involving Somalis.

"Of course I can see the detectives have a problem," he said. "But what did they do the last five years to address the issue?"

To prevent future killings, Accord hoped for a stronger commitment from a new police chief to improve the relationship with Somali youth.

He also said he planned meet with Jama's uncle about issuing a statement to encourage witnesses to come forward.

MLA Thomas Lukaszuk, Alberta's minister of Employment and Immigration – himself an immigrant and whose Castle Downs riding has the city's highest concentration of Somali residents – said his government has done all it can do to integrate them into the province's cultural mainstream.

"I don't think it's reflective of what the members of the community feel," Lukaszuk said of remarks made by Somali leaders.

"We have experience in dealing with this. We have other groups of immigrants coming to Canada in the past and we have done exactly the same thing and the process works out well."

Lukaszuk cited activities such as soccer games with Edmonton police service members and the creation of a drop-in centre as steps taken to make Somalis feel more inclusive.

"The resources are in place, all they have to do is reach out and use them.

"If there is an integration problem then we will be focusing on it. I think we are doing what we possibly can. There has to be some impetus also from the Somali community – a willingness to want to integrate and I'm not sensing that there isn't."

On January 3rd – two days after Jama's murder – host Ron Wilson did his best to get at the root of the tension between the Somali community and Edmonton police when speaking with Mahamad Accord.

Accord said he had been in contact with Jama's family and said they felt frustrated because the only things they knew about his death they learned from the news and from information Det. Clark shared with them. What police told the family wasn't made known to the Somali leader.

Accord told Wilson that not only does Jama's family not know why the shooting happened but the whole Somali community as well, saying that this was not an isolated case and just part of their expectation that their youth will die for no apparent reason.

Wilson brought up Det. Clark's comments. Accord said he could understand the officer's frustration but said that he was "missing the history of this issue and similar cases because you don't go somewhere without preparation and knowing the full history."

Accord said his community had been advocating that police should be "equipped and trained with proper investigative tools."

Wilson noted that witness statements are gathered at all crime scenes and asked why this was case different.

Accord said that when witnesses come forward to try and help police they become victims of harassment and intimidation and that had happened in cases going back to 2007.

He cited the trial of the two men accused of shooting Mohamed Ali Ibrahim in which at least a pair witnesses said they had their lives threatened while others changed their story on the witness stand.

Wilson pointed out that witness intimidation is not unique to the Somali community.

Accord countered, saying "that police have a way to deal with that, in similar crimes when they have an issue with it they have equipped themselves with a way to deal with that."

Regarding Somali crimes nothing has changed, Accord continued.

"If you don't have proper tools and you don't have proper approaches, police will have frustrated themselves."

Accord said his community sees a disconnect between their lives and real-life events, and that that was where the challenge was coming from. The community, Accord said, doesn't look at individual cases, but rather the situation as a whole.

At this point, the realities of live radio set it and time ran out before a further understanding could be gathered.

The detective known for giving good quote – seen above in June 2010 calling those responsible for 37-year-old Apichat Sudsaneh's death "a pack of wild dogs" – has long been the focus of interest from Alberta's Criminal Trial Lawyers Association.

Statements made by Clark in November 2007 at the scene of William James Kapach's death prompted lawyer Tom Engel to write a letter to the Edmonton Journal. Two years later, Clark sued Engel for defamation.

On November 27th, 2007, The Journal published a letter under the headline "Closed Mind?"

The letter was in response to a story the newspaper had earlier published quoting Clark.

Re: " 'Despicable, cowardly' beating led to man's death: William Kapach likely killed for coins," The Journal, Nov. 24.

To be sure, the death of William Kapach is tragic, but how does Edmonton Police Service homicide Det. Bill Clark know that this was a "despicable, cowardly act by one or more bullies in what was likely a mugging, where they targeted an elderly man who they thought was easy pickings and likely only got a few coins?"

Unless Clark witnessed the event, this is an example of the tunnel vision by a police investigator that has been condemned by numerous inquiries into wrongful convictions.

It is irresponsible to make such statements to the media.

Tom Engel, Edmonton

Tom Engel is best known for numerous lawsuits his firm has brought against the Edmonton Police Service.

News of Clark's $100,000 lawsuit against Engel was brought to light by the Edmonton Sun on December 4th, 2009. The statement of claim had been filed the previous week.

Clark, a 30-year Edmonton police veteran, claimed that as a result of the published letter Engel allegedly wrote he had suffered and continued to suffer "significant damage to his personal and professional reputation."

Clark claimed the letter was defamatory of him and would "tend to lower him in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally."

The detective also took issue with the implication that in the past he had been condemned by numerous inquiries into wrongful convictions, which he said further implied he had been instrumental in securing wrongful convictions on numerous occasions.

"And as such they imply repeated and continuing professional incompetence, poor judgment and unethical behaviour on the part of the plaintiff in the discharge of his duties as a police officer," the claim reads.

Clark further claimed the letter suggested that he lacked objectivity, was completing the police investigation into Kapach's death in an improper and irresponsible manner and with a closed mind.

It should be noted that statements of claim contain allegations not yet proven in court.

Clark told the Edmonton Journal's Paula Simons that both Mohamud Jama and the other shooting victim were well-known to police – as were many previous Somali homicide victims.

"These aren't Joe Average guys who are getting killed," Clark said. "They are involved in activities that lead to a high-risk lifestyle."

The detective again revealed his frustration.

"People say they're fearful of retaliation," he said. "But that's true of any community in which you find this kind of gangland killing. I realise people are fearful, but if people don't come forward, where does that leave us? Someone has to step up."

Clark said he was still determined to find those responsible for Jama's death, and determined to find a witness who would talk.

"There is no doubt in my mind that people know who did this," he said. "We're working on it. We're not giving up."

The entire Paul Simons column can be read here »

Det. Clark also spoke to the Edmonton Sun, updating the investigation.

"There have been a couple little things come in from the public, but nothing earth-shattering. Hopefully something will change," he said.

Clark identified the second man shot as being a key to identifying the shooter, but still looked to others to share what they saw.

"We are really confident we can get this. We just need that one person to come through. I think there is more than just that guy who could tell us who it is."

Alberta Somali Community president Mahamad Accord read out the riot act in a series of television interviews.

"His comments are racism," Accord asserted. "His comments are out of line and unappropriate."

"When you have this comment, it's disservice because we knew we have a problem ... police and us know that we have a problem."

Accord cited past incidents when he had been contacted while away in Africa as well as in the middle of the night.

"When the police had a problem, they used to call us as community leaders," he said.

"That was not the case [this time]. We already know the political leadership were not keen to helping the community."

Accord underscored the impact of Clark's remarks.

"Family indicate that they don't want him in this case because he's openly poisoned his relationship with the community."

Speaking on behalf of the city, Amarjeet Sohi called for calm in the matter.

"This is not the time to point fingers," Sohi said.

With Mayor Stephen Mandel away on year-end vacation, it ironically fell to the Ward 12 councillor to respond. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sohi's ward – Mill Woods – was infamous for its own high murder rate.

"We need to understand why people are not cooperating, what are the reasons that people feel scared.

"Is there not enough support from the police – I think there is but people need to be made aware."

Sohi said numerous townhall meetings with civic leaders and police have been held to reach common ground with the Somali community.

"Instead of pointing fingers, let's work together, let's understand the challenges, let's understand why people do not come forward.

"If there is a demand from the community that these homicides, these murders, need to be solved, then people need to cooperate," Sohi said.

In the middle-ground between police, civic leaders and cultural spokesmen came a voice of reason – from a friend of Mohamud Jama.

Ilham Ahmed emigrated to Canada in the early 1990s and presently serves as a board member of the Somalia Community Centre.

"We're doing the best we can," Ahmed said, adding the "problem can happen anywhere."

Ahmed said she was worried Det. Clark's comments could possibly prevent Jama's killer from being brought to justice and argued that police were wrong to place the responsibility of tracking suspects down solely on the Somali community.

"Why do we have to look for our own criminals?" she wondered.

"What I see is a kind of a negligence from the police community because when you are trained to investigate a murder you are not supposed to make special – a criminal is a criminal. He doesn't have a face, he doesn't have a race."

Ahmed railed against making Jama's murder – and others before his – a crime isolated within a particular cultural group and without greater social consequence.

"If you allow a Somalian to kill a Somalian, what forbids a Somalian to kill a Canadian?"

That Ahmed set her question – as if her peers were a nation within a nation – gave credence to statements suggesting there was a sense of disconnect between her culture and the city at large.

Ahmed said she struggled to feel "at home," even after 20 years in Canada.

"Nothing has been done for this community. We are left on our own," she said.

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"Murder is not normal in Canada," Calgary blogger Abdulkadir Ali said.

Ali backed up his declaration by posting Amin Amir's infamous "Born in Ontario, Killed in Alberta" cartoon, depicting a provincial politician handing out money to the Somali community while shielding her eyes, on his Somali Canadian Diaspora News blog site.

Cartoonist Amir fled Somalia's civil war in the 1990s and immigrated to Canada in 2000, eventually settling in Edmonton in 2006. His website www.aminarts.com, a collection of his political cartoons, reportedly attracts over a million hits a month.

"I live here in this province and I'm raising three boys," Ali said.

"I'm worried what the future holds for them if our children are dying daily like flies in the streets of Edmonton.

"I'm worried about my children," Ali said, adding his wife wanted to leave Alberta so their sons had a more certain future.

"I will file a complaint about the conduct of the detective that that is not acceptable conduct," Accord said.

"He brandish the community that we are drugs dealers, that we hide the criminals and are not willing to work with police. That is not true.

"We are co-operative, but this actually goes to the heart of the complaint against the police, the only thing making judgement in our community. They will not investigate no matter what it is."

Accord also said he was writing that his community was frustrated with the City of Edmonton for not providing enough resources to "integrate the community into the Canadian mainstream."

"They need jobs. They need opportential [sic]. They need acceptance – those are the things that are missing."

Accord's invention of the term 'opportential' – a combination of the words opportunity and potential – was likely an unwitting attempt to mint a "neologism," a newly coined term, word, or phrase, that has meaning only to the person who uses it. Another such term is "gription," shorthand for grip and traction or friction.

Ward 12 councillor Amarjeet Sohi was shown a draft of the letter and offered his comments.

"Can we do more? Definitely we can do more. Should we do more? Definitely, we will do more. But this whole notion that we're not doing anything is an incorrect one," he said.

The councillor said since 2007 the city had given more than $145,000 in grants to 17 organizations that help the Somali community.

Additionally, in the spring of 2010, the province gave a $202,740 grant to the Somali Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton to reduce and prevent crime in the community. In December 2010, the federal government launched the Somali Youth Skills Project at a cost of $138,000 to help people in the community find employment.

Sohi called the accusations in the letter unfair.

To see how widespread the notion of entitlement owed was, Global took the question to the street and spoke to a Somali mother of five.

"I have kids. I have young kids. I worry about them a lot," Hali Hashi said.

The woman said what linked the Somali deaths was not lack of opportunity among youth but rather their bad choices.

"They ask you, do you want any help from the government – the government will provide many helps. But they don't want it."

Hashi said the support is in place but it ultimately falls to individuals deciding their own fate.

"I cannot protect them if they choose the wrong way," Hashi said.

Global's Facebook friends expressed a range of opinions on the matter ...

Additional comments supporting Clark's position can be seen in screenshots taken from Global's Facebook page – see more »

Clark did go on record saying police treat every case the same – regardless of any ethnicity involved – and that public cooperation often breaks a case.

"I think the majority of the public realise that," Clark said.

"Race, colour, creed ... it doesn't matter to us in homicide. Someone's been killed. That's all that matters.

"The point is, we need to put the people away but we need help to do it. – we can't always do it on our own," Clark said.

Bill King wrote about the moral responsibility that comes with the privilege of living in Canada where crimes are reported to police and citizens cooperate.

R. Anderson said those involved are not acting like Canadians but rather like Somalis living in Canada, having brought their customs, language and hate with them.

J. Thurston questioned what Mahamad Accord had done to assist police, while W. Kostyniuk lauded the detective involved.

The January 7th collection of letters can be read here.

Naturally, responses followed.

Two days later, Ahmed Abduhhai, a youth and family counsellor, wrote that an overall sense of responsibility was absent and that no one person represents the Somali community.

Abduhhai went on to say that Somali leaders should refrain from blaming police and instill confidence in the Canadian justice system instead.

Lorin Yochim challenged Bill King's position that Somalis are unwilling to live up to their responsibility of fulfilling their roles as Canadian citizens.

The January 9th collection of letters can be read here.

Readers also contributed to the Journal's Venting column.

Speaking to CTV Edmonton, Accord said some of Clark's comments were unfair, irresponsible and unreflective of the "stellar working relationship" between the Somali community and Edmonton police.

He asked acting chief David Korol to ask Clark to withdraw his "hurtful and unfortunate comments."

"My letter was saying that we have a concern that some of the comments that made by Detective Clark that created a condition where some of them are inappropriate in our view," Accord said.

"The comments were unwarranted even though we understood his frustration."

Accord said Clark should have chosen another way to express his concerns.

After the meeting, Accord said had he received no response from the acting chief. It was reported that police and members of the Somali community would be meeting again later in the day.

"Detective Clark spoke out of frustration in one particular incident but really everybody's on the same page and that is to try and solve the homicide and to prevent further violence," Korol said.

The acting chief said the relationship between the Somali community and police remained strong despite the comments made but did not indicate if he would demand a retraction.

Korol also didn't indicate how long it will take the Edmonton Police Service to officially respond to Accord's letter.

Global Edmonton reported that Korol had responded directly to one of their viewer's emails expressing a slightly more supportive position for Det. Clark.

The ACLC was first conceived under chief Mike Boyd in July 2008 as part of his Chief's Advisory Council. It was officially unveiled in December 2008, and a steering committee got underway in February 2009.

The committee was constituted in May 2010 and worked until September of that year planning for the transition to a working committee.

In December 2010, the first ACLC meeting was held to prepare for the selection of new ACLC members as part of the fully functioning committee.

The terms of the ACLC include addressing community safety issues, improving quality of life, and guiding police in its delivery of services to the community.

In terms of the Somali community, dealing with deaths on a regular basis, the progress of the committee must have seemed glacial in pace.

The meeting to nominate members from the community took place in the former Wellington Junior High School, now the African Centre, at 13160 127 Street.

The theme of the meeting was to work past the current issues of distrust in the Jama investigation with a view to moving forward on wider matters of mutual interest.

"It goes beyond just crime. It goes on to other types of policing and helping everyone to be safe," ACLC co-chari Peter Obiefuna said. "Helping everyone to belong, like equity issues and even recruitment issues."

"It's about the exchange of information between the Edmonton Police Service and the community," Superintendent Brad Ward offered.

"It's about inviting community input to the way that the police service does its business. It's about really building relationships, cementing those that are already very solid and building on the future."

Whether the meeting was able to nominate a full slate of 23 members from the floor wasn't made known.

Farhiya Warsame filed the complaint in light of remarks veteran officer Bill Clark made to media outside the Papyrus Restaurant and Lounge the day after Jama was shot.

"These people don't want to talk to us so how do we solve the crime?" Clark had said after first advising reporters he was expressing personal comments.

"So to me, our unit should be looking at this and going, okay – they don't want to cooperate, let's shut this one down – move on to the ones where the people want to cooperate.

"These aren't Joe Average guys who are getting killed. They are involved in activities that lead to a high-risk lifestyle."

For more of Clark's comments, see Detective draws line above

At a media conference, the grieving widow expressed her emotions in a quivering but measured tone.

"For me this has been the hardest thing I've ever gone through, and probably will ever go through," Farhiya said.

She then turned her attention to the detective leading the case.

"Because of these comments made by Bill Clark, my husband and the Somali community have been negatively labelled.

"I don't want him on the case," she said.

"His comments, I don't see how they're supposed to help this case or the community. He's labelling my community and my husband in a way that's not right.

"I don't see how making these comments will help the Somali community to build a better relationship with the Edmonton police," she said.

"He talked about my husband and Somalis as gangsters and drug-dealers – all I can do is cry.

"His remarks were uncalled for, and in my opinion are racist.

"I don't want him on this case, period," Farhiya stated.

"I honestly don't believe he cares. I would also like an apology from Bill Clark."

The 22-year-old woman, now five months pregnant, expressed concern over how she was treated by investigators.

"No one has said anything to us. No one has even told me how my husband died, like how many times he got shot, where he got shot." she said.

"My biggest fear is my husband's case being forgotten and never being solved."

Farhiya and her family said they still have confidence in Edmonton police and that their complaints are specifically about Clark.

"We should be treated the way Canadians should be treated because he did a lot of finger pointing to our Somali community," Abdullahi Farah, Jama's stepfather, said.

It was the first time the grieving families had spoken publicly. Hali Jama, Mohamud's sister, recalled learning of his death.

"I just dropped the phone and I start screaming because he was my brother," Hali said.

The woman said Clark's remarks were upsetting and caused her fear.

"He wasn't drug dealer or related gang or anything and ... I get pissed off when I heard all these things about him.

"I'm scared. I don't think this country is safe anymore," Hali said.

"You don't need to this to these people who are coming into Canada," supporter Lillian Shirt said.

The letter of complaint was also signed by members representing the Alberta Somali Community Centre and Canadian Somali Congress.

To pilot the matter, Farhiya and Jama's mother, Amina Osman (right), hired Tom Engel.

The Edmonton lawyer is no stranger to bringing legal action against police, nor is he unfamiliar with Det. Bill Clark (see Detective's previous controversy above).

Engel said Clark's comments had no place in a murder investigation.

"It's not consistent with your duty to start expressing opinions about the nature of the Somali community or about the victim's background, or anything like that," Engel said.

"It's not helpful. It's hurtful. It's corrosive.

"Even if it was true, he has no business saying those things.

"It's not part of his duty to express opinions. Clark doesn't speak for the police," Engel said, pointing out that there already was a strong working relationship between the Somali community and city police.

"Hopefully the Edmonton Police Service will respond to that, and hopefully Det. Clark will be taken off the case," he said.

Complaints laid against members of the Edmonton Police Service are normally handled internally by the chief.

"The letter will go to the chief, but we've also asked the Edmonton Police Commission to step in," Engel said.

By filing it also with the commission, Engel and Jama's family hoped the complaint would then be handled by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), the group tasked with investigating Alberta's law enforcement agencies.

"One of the things ASIRT has jurisdiction to investigate is matters of a serious or sensitive nature," Engel said.

"This is a matter of a highly sensitive nature."

In the letter filed, Engel claimed "these comments had the effect of defaming the Somali and other ethnic communities and their leaders."

With a formal complaint now in front of them, Edmonton Police Service offered no comment. And neither did Bill Clark, who could not be reached by media the day complaint was laid.

Later in the day, outside a police commission meeting, acting police chief David Korol backed Clark's role in the Jama murder investigation.

"He is part of the team. We remain confident in the whole investigative team," Korol said.

"We continue to work with the Somalian community to address their issues but in terms of a formal complaint, my understanding is we have received one through Mr. Engel and I haven't had an opportunity to review it or look at the details."

Sgt. Tony Simioni, president of the Edmonton Police Association, said the family's complaint was counterproductive to solving the homicide, adding said the association stood by Clark's remarks.

"His motivation is to solve a homicide," Simioni said.

"The comments he made were an attempt to do just that. You would hope there would be more of an attempt to co-operate with Det. Clark than attack him."

Simioni suggested that for a detective to be removed from a case, bias or incompetence that interferes with objectivity would have to be proven.

"That's not the case here," he said.

"Det. Clark was right on the money with his comments. Were they racist? Not at all.

"He was tring to get information to solve a homicide and that has to take priority over any other political consideration.

Farhiya Warsame's demand to have Clark pulled off the case prompted another letter to the editor.

Jama and Farhiya Warsame were married in the summer of 2010.

Five months pregnant with their first child, Farhiya said Mohamud was looking forward to becoming a father.

"My husband was not a drug dealer and or involved in any gangs."

Instead, she said, he was a hard-working and caring man finally content with the life he had in Edmonton.

"The day before he died he was so happy in his life for the first time," Farhiya said. "I don't see him throwing that away for nothing."

The woman said her husband was not a partier, and that he never went to bars or clubs.

It was revealed that Jama had been planning on heading home just before he was shot in the back of the head.

This came from the other shooting victim, the first time his telling of events was made known.

"He was in the middle of the sentence, saying, 'I'm going to go home to my wife,' " Farhiya said the man told her.

"Just before that sentence finished, he was shot."

Nine days after he was shot, a sentencing hearing for Mohamud Jama had been scheduled to begin.

Defence lawyer George Isshak was shocked when a CBC Edmonton reporter told him the reason why his client hadn't shown up in court was because he was the victim of a homicide.

The matter stemmed from an October 24th, 2007, incident when Jama stabbed another man six times in the chest and abdomen, and then stuck the knife in the man's back twice as he tried to run away.

According to some accounts, the stabbing victim – Mustafe Shirwac – was a known drug dealer.

Jama was originally charged with aggravated assault, but pleaded guilty to the lesser count of assault with a weapon on October 29th, 2010.

Isshak declined comment on the assault conviction.

Court officials adjourned the matter until January 17th in order to obtain a death certificate.

Tom Engel said in the complaint against Bill Clark that Jama was simply defending himself from an attack from a larger man.

Jama pleaded to the lesser charge after the complainant admitted to having attacked him first, and that he made the deal to avoid the risk of going to trial.

Prior to the 2007 incident, Jama did not have a criminal record.

In front of a gaggle of cameras that nearly outnumbered others in the room, acting chief David Korol read out a letter at the North Division Station.

Korol then spoke to what had led up to the document.

"When the community had concerns about the Mohamud Mohamed Jama investigation and comments made by one of our investigators, we met with the community leaders, we listened and we worked together.

"It is clear that both the Edmonton Police Service and the community share the same interests, and that's solving this homicide, preventing any future violence and solving any other homicides that had occurred."

Korol said the letter was struck "on behalf of the police service for the concern that we've caused within the community."

"So the comments are made on behalf of the Edmonton Police Service and not behalf of Detective Clark."

Korol termed the letter an opportunity to clear up a misunderstanding.

"I think we needed some documented information with respect to clarifying some of the misinformation and communications."

The acting chief concluded with what he hoped would be the outcome of the day's fence-mending.

"I look forward to the day when I can stand in front of you and announce that this homicide is solved.

"We need help from somebody out there who knows what happened and with that help I hope to be able to stand in front of you and share that information.

"There were a number of people that witnessed it that were there, that know what happened ... or anyone they may have talked to. It's a reasonably narrow group, but they know who they are.

"There are a number of witnesses who were at the scene and have crucial information to the identity of the shooter.

"We recognise that it takes courage to speak out about the crime and any crime," Korol said.

"Somebody out there knows what happened and who committed this crime."

Somali-Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton president Hassan Ali accepted Korol's words and looked forward to resolution.

"We're going to accept that and also, it opens the road in a good relationship," Ali said.

"We have the commitment of the acting chief and the police, they are working very hard to try to resolve this issue.

"We know there are so many deaths within our community. We all have the same objective to solving the crime.

"I think from today – we had good relationship with the police, we worked together – and now I think we are stronger from today moving forward to solve these crimes with the police who have been working very hard and we have their commitment."

Away from the podium, Ali provided his view of what the acting chief's letter represented.

"All the comments that were coming from back and forth for the last month and a half was about the comments he [Clark] say and responding back and forth.

"And we wanted to stop that and focus more about the actual solution of the crime what happened and what took place.

Strangely absent from the process was anyone from Jama's family.

"I'm going to take this to the family and they'll be very happy to see it," Lady Wyambura said as she volunteered to step in.

After the meeting, the Edmonton Journal spoke with Jama's widow, Farhiya Warsame, who said she was still upset with Clark's remarks.

"With that attitude, I don't see how my husband's case will be solved," Warsame said.

"I'm only 22 years old and he is somebody I was with for a long time. We planned our pregnancy and my life is just not what I expected today without him."

Warsame and Jama's father, Abdullahi Farah, and mother, Amina Osman, said police did not notify them about the news conference.

"We need an apology and that apology has to be sincere," Farah said.

Warsame said she was expecting Mohamud's baby girl in June.

It was thought that the various complaints filed by Jama's widow kept her and her family from being informed of, and invited to, the police briefing.

Back at the news conference, police and Somali leaders launched into part two: the unveiling of a poster campaign highlighting Jama's murder.

"The posters actually emphasizes the teamwork that exists between us, the community leaders, and the boys itself," Mohamed Abdi of the Somali-Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton said.

The poster, developed by police, the Somalis, and Crime Stoppers, also highlighted 11 other murder victims – the same ones the Edmonton Police Commission had offered $40,000 rewards for in March 2010.

Copies of the poster were to be distributed throughout various African organisations in the city and would eventually be translated into a number of African languages.

"It's a call for action and a reminder that these homicides are not forgotten," Korol said.

"This was unnecessary," Grant MacEwan University criminologist Bill Pitt said, adding Korol's apology wasn't warranted since many witnesses hadn't cooperated with homicide detectives in the Jama case.

"The apology smacks of political pandering. If anything, the Somalian community should apologise to the City of Edmonton for its lack of cooperation in all of these murders.

"It was not the role of the police to go cap-in-hand on bent-knee and apologise to this community.

"It's up to that community to step up. That community needs to stop projecting onto the police that it's their fault on what's going on in their community," Pitt said.

Most times, the well-known former RCMP officer is best known for extreme hyperbole but in this matter he was far from a lone cry in the wilderness. Others, too, shared their views as can be seen in this sampling of local opinion ...

On January 24th, police and other media outlets reported that a man had been shot in the driveway of a home at 13408 160 Avenue at about 10:30 p.m. by someone driving by in a black SUV.

Acting Inspector Chris Epler said 8 to ten shots had been fired, catching the 26-year-old man in the chest and legs with at least three bullets.

Epler said the shooting didn't appear to be random and that the victim, known to police, was not cooperating with their investigation.

The 630 CHED story was at odds with the other reports on two counts: the address and where at the home the man had been shot.

No further details about the incident or incidents and possible links to the Jama homicide were reported.

The man's name was not released. The second man shot inside the Papyrus Lounge was also 26.

"You often hear gunshots around here," Kristen Erickson said. "Couple months ago there was a guy shooting at some kids in the back alley."

"We witnessed a shooting about three years ago right at that corner," Cathy Sheppard recalled, referring to the 2007 murder of 38-year-old Ola Tinineh Moses who had been gunned down inside the Urban Stylez clothing store.

A man who has lived most of his life on 107th Avenue considered himself lucky not be a victim of foul play.

"I'm in shock. I saw the yellow tape and my heart started racing," said Trevor Duncan who lives and works across the street from the Papyrus. "I've seen stabbings and shootings in the area, but never this close. I just hope I don't know the guy who died."

"There's always drunk people around here," said Yassin Arabi, who works at a nearby grocery store. "This area is not good and I worry about the children and the families that are around here."

Lew Rodney has worked for five years to get a handle on crime in the neighbourhood and the shooting at the Papyrus Lounge only strengthened his resolve.

"My home is here, my business is here, why should I move?" said Rodney who can see the lounge from his window at his land surveying firm.

"We want them to move – they need to go, not us," he said, referring to the "criminals and prostitutes that walk around and act like they own the area."

Rodney, who joined the 107th Avenue Safe Squad about five years ago, is one of two community volunteers who split foot patrols in the area every two weeks. He said progress is being made but it's slow.

"We want to make this neighbourhood respectable," he said, noting Safe Squad efforts had put a dent in the amount of graffiti in the area.

"But we need to do more and it's hard and takes time, especially when no one around here wants to join, they just hide from the police."

Rodney, who has lived in the Queen Mary Park area since 1983, said it was the reluctance of people in the community to talk or get involved that frustrates him the most.

A 19-year-old grade 12 student at nearby St. Joseph High School had moved to the Queen Mary Park area with her family in 2007 from Ethiopia. The recent shooting has left her wanting to move.

"We moved here because it's a central location, near my school and my mom knew people already living here," Salamawit Bahta said as she walked past the crime scene.

"When I have my own family or when I start my career, I'm not going to live in this neighbourhood. There are times my mom feels scared."

However, not all share the impression that the area has problems.

Calvin Threefingers, 27, was visiting from Hobbema and thinks the area is "as safe as anywhere else."

"I feel safe when I visit my sister and she's been here for over three years now," he said.

"There's a lot of nice restaurants and shops I visit when I'm up here. The people are friendly. I could live around these parts."

Just after 1:00 a.m., Calgary police were called to the city's downtown receiving reports of multiple shots fired.

Officers found two men suffering from gunshot wounds. One victim died of his injuries, and a second man was in serious but stable condition in hospital.

Two men were taken into custody but investigators were still looking for a third suspect.

A man staying at the nearby Westin Hotel with his girlfriend thought the shots were fireworks and the couple considered themselves lucky not to have been caught by a stray bullet as they stood on the street.

In Toronto, homicide detectives were called to an alley behind the Tattoo Rock Parlour on Queen Street at about 2:30 a.m. after a man died from stab wounds to the chest and stomach. Another victim was in hospital with serious injuries.

Witnesses said several suspects fled immediately after the incident.

In Ottawa, the body of a 43-year-old man was found on a driveway outside a six-unit apartment building at about 1:40 p.m. A 26-year-old woman was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

Saskatoon police investigated a suspected homicide after a young native man was found dead in a downtown alley on New Year’s Day. Police said the victim was about 16 to 25 years old.