‘Rising stars’: Boys killed after leaving KC Ramadan service were community leaders

UPDATE: Police ask for help finding suspect in KC killing of 2 boys after Ramadan service

A few men gathered in the otherwise quiet parking lot of the Somali Center of Kansas City at mid-morning. They recalled how the night before, two boys prayed in the red, brick building, then went home.

The teenagers were fatally shot Friday night after returning home from the Ramadan service, police said.

They have been identified as 16-year-old Abdulwahid and 14-year-old Abdirahman Abdulaziz. Family said they were the younger brothers of the suspect, 25-year-old Hanad A. Abdiaziz.

The men gathered Saturday morning recalled how the boys used to play in the parking lot. They were active members of their faith community, often leading prayers, they added.

Abdurahman Abu, 18, a member of the mosque and a friend of the family, told The Star that the boys were always smiling and brightening up other people’s days.

“They were leaders in their community at a very young age,” Abu said.

The boys loved going to the mosque and reading the Quran, as well as playing basketball with their friends, he said.

“These death are devastating and will always have an ever lasting effect on the local community,” Abu said. “This incident has really shook us all.”

Officers were called at about 11:30 p.m. Friday to the area of East 8th and Olive streets on a reported shooting, Capt. Dave Jackson, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, said in an email.

There, police found two juvenile victims with gunshot wounds just outside of an apartment.

Both of the victims were declared dead at the scene, Jackson said. No suspect has been taken into custody.

He said police believe, upon an initial investigation, that a “domestic situation” involving a family member led to the shooting.

“Our young people—and all people—should be safe coming back and forth from religious services. Saddened to hear of the killing of two teenagers returning home from Ramadan services this evening in Northeast,” Mayor Quinton Lucas wrote on Twitter Saturday.

The police department on Saturday afternoon wrote on Twitter that members of the mosque stopped by the crime scene Friday evening to mourn the boys.

“Officers and detectives on scene heard story after story about these promising young men who were leaders both in their community and at their mosque,” the department wrote. “It’s become clear that Kansas City has lost two rising stars, and we will do everything we can to seek justice for them.”

The killings mark the 51st and 52nd homicides in Kansas City this year. Kansas City ended last year with 182 homicides, the most in the city’s history in a single year, according to data maintained by The Star.

Police are asking anyone with information on the shooting to contact homicide detectives at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information in the killing.

Gun violence will be the subject of a new, statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.

To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.