More Violence in Fremont, Hate Crime Nowhere To Be Found
Once again, violence has struck the Afghan-American community of Fremont. According to The Argus:
Authorities have identified 46-year-old Zarghona Rahim as the woman who, according to police, was shot and killed by her husband Tuesday evening during a domestic dispute in Ardenwood.Fremont's last murder victim was Alia Ansari, another member of the Afghan-American community. Because Ansari was wearing a hijab (headscarf) when she was shot, her murder was labeled by many in the community an anti-Muslim hate crime. Local groups even organized a "Wear a Hijab/Turban Day" in Ansari's honor, during which non-Muslim women were urged to don the hijab. All this despite the fact that the case remains unsolved to this day.
Meanwhile, the husband remains in a Bay Area hospital on a ventilator after he was beaten nearly to death by two relatives who disarmed him minutes after the shooting, a spokesman with the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau said early Wednesday.
Rahim, the city's fifth homicide victim of the year, was slain about 4 p.m. Tuesday during an argument in the kitchen of her home in the 4200 block of Othello Drive,
Detective Bill Veteran said.
After the initial shooting, the gunman then shot his mother-in-law several times as she tried to flee the house after witnessing the slaying, Veteran said.
The unidentified mother-in-law staggered to a neighbor's home, where she called relatives — not police — for help, the detective said.
Within minutes, two men arrived at the home and confronted the husband — who had dropped the handgun but was armed with a baseball bat — and severely beat him, Veteran said. They held him until police arrived.
As I indicated at the time, the more likely culprit was either domestic violence or criminal and/or gang affiliations. And this latest murder would seem to back up that view.
Perhaps it's time for the Afghan-American community of Fremont to stop looking without for answers and start looking within.
Cross-posted at Kesher Talk.
posted by Cinnamon @ 4:24 PM
1 Comments:
The Muslim community of Fremont is generally portrayed as pro-American and "moderate," but when I went to the Muslim Film Festival there, I did get a bit of a hyper-Muslim vibe from some of the attendees -- not really confrontational, but definitely a feeling that many people were "Muslim first, Afghan second, American third." I wouldn't be surprised if there was stuff bordering on honor killings going on.
Don't forget that Ohmid Popal, when mowed down 19 people with his car, killing one, was from Fremont as well.
Post a Comment
<< Home