1 December 2024, The Jerusalem Press – Cook County Sheriff’s Office staff found Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, 22, “unresponsive due to an apparent suicide attempt by hanging in his cell.”

Abdallahi, who faced 16 felony counts, including hate crime and terrorism, for allegedly shooting a 39-year-old Orthodox Jewish man walking to synagogue on Shabbat in Chicago on Oct. 26, was admitted to Cermak Health Services on Nov. 15. Jailers discovered his body during routine security checks.

“Staff immediately initiated life-saving measures, and Abdallahi was transported by a Chicago Fire Department ambulance to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was subsequently pronounced deceased,” says the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.

The deceased was admitted to Cermak, “the medical facility in the jail which is a division of the Cook County Health, which operates public health and hospital systems in the county,” after a transfer from St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, the Sheriff’s Office said.

“He was housed in Cermak Health Services Tier 3S as a result of the medical and mental health evaluations conducted by staff at Cermak Health Services, which is responsible for the mental health and medical care of all individuals in custody and determines what housing is appropriate based on the level of care required for individuals in custody,” the sheriff’s Office added.

Abdallahi was hospitalized after a two-and-a-half-minute shootout with police officers after he shot the Orthodox man in Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood, home to one of the city’s largest Orthodox Jewish populations.

“Many more questions than answers now in front of the American people,” says Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who has followed the case closely. “Who was he, who were his known associates, where did he radicalize, and why was something like this not planned for and prevented?”

“We need to know more about who Abdallahi was in contact with,” says Muhammad Siraj Amin, an Imam in Marfa, Texas. “We need to know who set this man on a deadly path, bent upon murder, so that the authorities may ensure any associates do not follow Abdallahi’s footsteps.”

“There is no evidence of foul play at this time. The cause and manner of death are pending autopsy by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office,” says the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.

It added that “per protocol,” the office “contacted the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force to conduct an independent investigation.”

It added that Abdallahi was being held on charges of attempted murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm at a peace officer or fireman, aggravated discharge of a firearm, terrorism, and hate crime.