Murder by mistake or hate crime?

 

hate-crimeA Kansas City man intentionally ran down a 15-year-old boy and killed him east of downtown in what the defendant said was a murder by mistake, according to court records.

Jackson County prosecutors today announced charges against Ahmed H. Aden, 34, of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, leaving the scene of an accident and unlawful use of a weapon.

He is charged with running down and killing Abdisamad Sheikh-Hussein as the victim left the Somali Center of Kansas City at Admiral Boulevard and Lydia Avenue.

According to prosecutors and court records:

Aden ran his SUV into the boy because he was trying to kill four men who had threatened to kill him and he thought the boy was one of them.

Police captured Aden after he crashed the SUV and ran away carrying a machete and a handgun.

The Kansas City Star reports that Aden is also the target of a federal civil rights investigation related to a possible hate crime.

The victim was a Muslim of Somali descent and the killer was a Somali Christian who had threatened members of the downtown Somali mosque, the Star reported.

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