A man accused of shooting and wounding an Orthodox Jewish man in a targeted attack before firing on responding police and paramedics died by suicide while in custody in November, the Cook County medical examiner’s office has ruled.
Autopsy results determined Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, 22, died by hanging Nov. 30.
Cook County sheriff’s staff were conducting routine security checks about 3:30 p.m. at Cermak Health Services — where Abdallahi was being held — and discovered Abdallahi unresponsive in his cell. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:39 p.m.
Prosecutors had said Abdallahi mapped the locations of several Chicago synagogues and Jewish schools in the days leading up to the Oct. 26 attack, in which he shot an Orthodox Jewish man and fired at police and paramedics. He had also faced charges of attempted murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm at a peace officer or firefighter, aggravated discharge of a firearm and terrorism.
The 39-year-old victim was walking to a synagogue about 9:30 a.m. in the 2600 block of West Farwell Avenue when Abdallahi, who was following him, opened fire, striking the victim in the shoulder, Chicago police said. As paramedics were rendering aid to the victim, and officers were looking for the shooter, police say Abdallahi emerged from an alley and fired shots at the officers, hitting a Chicago Fire Department ambulance.
Abdallahi continued to fire at officers multiple times from different locations as officers returned fire, police said. He was shot multiple times, taken into custody and transported to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was initially listed in critical condition.
Abdallahi, an immigrant from Mauritania in northwest Africa, had lived in the U.S. for “at least two years” and worked at an Amazon warehouse, Assistant Public Defender Josh Thigpen said at his Nov. 22 detention hearing.