Gun offender murders man just 40 minutes after leaving court
Abdullah Arif, 48, of Stillwater was shot and killed last Thursday outside his tobacco shop in St. Paul. Arif’s murder is in part the result of a broken court system that has repeatedly failed to hold violent offenders accountable. Sadly, Arif’s assailant had walked out of a Ramsey County courtroom just 40 mins earlier, after appearing on a gun-related charge.
If any other entity failed at public safety the way our Minnesota courts have been failing, there would be consequences. Instead, our court system continues its record-setting pace of departing from sentencing guidelines while obsessing over perceived “racial disparities” and “over-incarceration” — all at our collective expense.
A review of court records and media reports shows a disturbing lack of accountability by several district courts towards an out-of-control young man named Elias-Kareem Hany Aly, 21. Arguably, Aly should have never been free to kill Arif last week. The lack of accountability is stunning and unacceptable, but tragically not that uncommon. Here is a timeline assembled from available records — it covers just the few years since Aly has been in adult court:
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2/16/23 — According to the Pioneer Press report found here, Aly made a court appearance on the 2020 firearm possession case. Despite all the criminal activity documented above, Aly was allowed to remain on conditional release following the hearing. Just 40 minutes later, Aly entered Arif’s tobacco shop wearing a balaclava face mask and refused to remove it when Arif asked him to. Aly then pulled the store door chime down and stole it as he left the store. Arif attempted to confront Aly and Aly shot Arif immediately. Aly was arrested in Minneapolis the next day.
