Suspected Terrorist Living In Sacramento To Be Tried In Iraq For Killing Former Police Officer. Isn't this why Trump wanted to restrict immigration from certain countries?

Suspected Terrorist Living In Sacramento To Be Tried In Iraq For Killing Former Police Officer

By Shirin Rajaee

August 15, 2018 at 3:48 pm

Filed Under:Iraq, ISIS, Sacramento

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A man was arrested in Sacramento on suspicion of a 2014 murder of a former police officer in Iraq believed to be carried out by the Islamic State.

READ THE COMPLAINT: Omar Abdulsattar Ameen criminal complaint

Omar Abdulsattar Ameen is expected to be extradited to Iraq.

The government of Iraq has charged Ameen with premeditated murder that happened during an ISIS takeover of the Rawah District of the Al-Anbar Province. ISIS took control of the area on June 21, 2014, and the next day investigators say Ameen was part of a four-vehicle ISIS convoy that opened fire on a home of a former Iraqi police officer on June 22.

The Iraqi government alleges Ameen fired his weapon at the victim, Ihsan Abdulhafiz Jasim, who was on the ground, killing him with a gunshot wound to the chest.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

• June 21, 2014 – ISIS seizes control of the Rawah District of Al-Anbar Province, erects checkpoints.
• June 22, 2014 – An four-vehicle ISIS convoy opens fire on a home. The man inside returns fire, but is eventually killed. A witness says Omar Abdulsattar Ameen fired the lethal shot into the victim’s chest.
• April 11, 2014 – Intelligence officials say they have information on the murder of Jasim.
• April 12, 2018 – Court receives details about the 2014 attack. Details came from a witness who investigators say was able to identify Ameen as the shooter from ISIS videos and photos.
• May 16, 2018 – A judge in Iraq issues a warrant for Ameen’s arrest.
• June 4, 2018 – Iraqi government files request for extradition
• July 18, 2018 – American Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman certifies the request by the Iraqi government
• Aug. 14, 2018 – Warrant submitted by investigators and granted by a judge in Sacramento.
• Aug. 15, 2018 – Ameen is taken into custody and has his first hearing in Sacramento
• Aug. 20, 2018 – Ameen’s next scheduled hearing.

The Iraqi government says a witness came forward and was able to identify him.

Investigators with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms searched the Eastern Villa Apartments on Eastern Avenue. Agents took boxes of evidence from the apartment.

An intelligence report from Iraqi intelligence says Ameen worked with building material supplies and had a shopping center in the Rawah district. Investigators tied him to terrorist cells in 2004, saying he was a founder of al-Tawhid Wa al Jihad, an Al Qaida organization. They also say he was a close associate of Abu Mus’ab Al-Zaraqawi, a man at the center of many bombings, attacks and beheadings in Iraq before his death in a U.S. strike in 2006.

The report also links Ameen to an armed attack against an Iraqi army headquarters in 2006 where soldiers were taken hostage and executed.

Neighbors say they were surprised by the arrest.

“It makes me nervous. We were shocked, didn’t ssupect anything like that,” said Greg Hudson. “He didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to make you feel suspicious, just a friendly Muslim, family man.”

Former federal prosecutor Bill Portanova says, “It’s a wakeup call that bad guys can end up anywhere in the world.”

The Department of Justice says Ameen fled Iraq to Turkey and later settled in Sacramento as a purported refugee while concealing his ties to terrorist groups.