KCTV 5 News
By Josh Marshall & Betsy Webster
Friday, December 5, 2014
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KANSAS CITY, MO - The family of a teen targeted in a devastating hit-and-run is calling it a hate crime. The teen who had critical injuries after the crash has died. The wreck, at Admiral Boulevard and Lydia Avenue at 5:23 p.m. Thursday, happened in a Somalian neighborhood, as the teen and several others were leaving prayer at a mosque.
A family friend says the teen's father was the leader of the mosque.
Police said the teen, either 14 or 15 years old, was standing outside a Toyota, about to get in, when the driver of an SUV appeared to intentionally swerve towards them.
They said both of the boy's legs were severed as a result. Family friends say there was an adult standing outside with him and three younger children inside the car, all of whom suffered less serious injuries.
The SUV driver ran, but was quickly caught.
"I hope somebody brought him to justice because my nephew he is a good kid," said the boy's aunt, who gave only the name Kajdra. "He is a smart kid, he is a straight-A student, so he really doesn't deserve what happened to him."
Others in the community said they recognize the SUV as the one once covered in anti-Quaran graffiti, driven by a man who has since been banned from Somali markets and restaurants for his rants.
They showed KCTV5 a photo they took two months ago. The writing on the back window read, "Quran is a virus disease woreste [sic] than Ebola."
One community member says people confronted the man in that SUV back then and it turned violent.
"Some of my friends were like, 'Why are you doing this?'" Abdul Mohamed said. "Things got bad, they started arguing and he pulled a gun."
"Of course he has the right to bash anybody, exercise his First Amendment," the targeted teen's aunt said. "But for him actually come and try to run over kids. That's just ridiculous. Who does that? I'm just very hurt. Our family is very hurt."
Police would neither confirm nor deny the gun incident Mohamed described. They would not say if the SUV was the same as the one in that photograph, but they say there was no graffiti present on the SUV found at the wreck. They did, however, say they found a machete inside the wrecked SUV.
Police transferred the case from the Accident Investigation Unit to the Assault Squad of the Homicide Unit because they believe the act was intentional, but they are not yet calling it a hate crime.
(Source: KCTV 5 News)