Philly Muslim leaders look to repair ‘fault lines’ after Eid al-Fitr shooting as investigation continues

The shooting at Clara Muhammad Square in West Philadelphia on Wednesday left three people shot, five arrested, and the city’s Muslim community deeply shaken.

But in some ways, community leaders and city officials said Friday, it was a miracle.

“April the 10th will always be remembered as the day of a miracle, because it’s a miracle today that we still have all our loved ones,” said Imam Saifullah Muhammad, business manager of operations at the Philadelphia Masjid. “Nobody lost their mother, nobody lost their son. Nobody lost their father. Nobody lost a child.”

Two days after gunfire erupted in the park as hundreds gathered for an Eid al-Fitr celebration to mark the end of the monthlong Ramadan fast, Muslim leaders and city officials decried the violence.

They announced plans for an April 27 community event during which they hope to fill in what Imam Kenneth Nuriddin described as “fault lines” that have developed between young people and their elders.

“The reality is that we all have to now come together and begin to fill in the fault lines — add what you can,” Nuriddin said. “Add what you have to add to fill in the gaps so that our youth can have access to us. Because they look at us, and we are too distant from them.”

It was not clear how many police officers would be assigned to the April 27 event, but a department spokesperson said there would be a police presence that day.

The Wednesday afternoon shooting occurred as hundreds of people were gathered to celebrate the end of Ramadan. As a barrage of at least 30 gunshots rang out, celebrants scattered and ran, ducking behind trash cans and trees, and children were separated from parents amid the chaos.

The incident, which police have described as a feud-turned-shootout, left two people shot — a 22-year-old man wounded in the stomach and a 15-year-old boy struck in the hand. A responding officer shot another 15-year-old who police said had a gun. The officer has been placed on administrative leave, as is customary.

Police charged five people on Thursday. Authorities named one suspect — Kahbir Oglesby-Hicks, 21, of Southwest Philadelphia — but the four others are juveniles and have not been publicly identified. The police department ordinarily does not identify juvenile suspects unless authorities charge them as adults.

Since the four juveniles were not charged with first-degree felonies, they were not eligible to be charged as adults, said Assistant District Attorney Bill Fritze of the office’s Gun Violence Task Force.

Reached by phone, Saleemah Oglesby, Oglesby-Hicks’ mother, declined to comment, only saying, “My son didn’t have anything to do with that.”

Responding officers recovered five guns — four handguns and a rifle, two police sources with knowledge of the case said.

Assistant District Attorney Marianne Aguilar, also of the office’s Gun Violence Task Force, said investigators continued to sift through surveillance footage and evidence to try to determine which of the five people in custody, if any, fired shots Wednesday.

So far, the suspects are only facing firearm offenses, but additional charges could be filed “if the ballistics and evidence leads there,” Aguilar said.

The police department was continuing to put the recovered firearms through testing to see which had been fired.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said.

District Attorney Larry Krasner urged people with information about the shooting to contact law enforcement so those responsible could be brought to justice.

Muhammad, too, called on the community to help law enforcement make a case against those who carried out what he called a “hideous crime in the park there on this sacred ground.”

”You come forward and you give that information,” Muhammad said. “And don’t worry about giving that information. I told you to give that information. The Philadelphia Masjid told you to give that information. The Muslims in this city told you to give that information.

“And when you give that information you’re not a snitch, you’re a believing man,” he said. “You’re a man that don’t fear nothing. You’re a woman that don’t fear nothing.”

As the investigation into the shooting continues, Muhammad said, some community members feel traumatized. Friday’s gathering, he said, was meant to serve as a reassurance that the Philadelphia Masjid remained a safe space to gather.

“We want them to know that that is possible because we have every sector of society here showing their concern,” Muhammad said. “We’ve got leadership here who know how to go into the operating room and operate, and cut out the gloom, cut out the sadness, cut out the despair.”

» READ MORE: Philly Muslims are reeling after Eid al-Fitr shooting, as police investigate what sparked the gunfight

The shooting, Muhammad said, showed the strength of the Muslim community amid the violence that pervades the city.

“No venue has been untouched or unblemished by the ugly head of violence,” he said. “The hand grenade of violence has devastated every venue in our society. Violence has no barrier. And violence has not been impeded by anything. But on the day of April the 10th, violence was impeded at the Philadelphia Masjid.”

City Commissioner Omar Sabir said police have told him they would increase their presence in the area. Community members, he added, should feel safe practicing their religion there.

“That foolishness will not happen again. Not on my watch, not on any of these other brothers and sisters’ watches,” Sabir said. “We are encouraging everyone to come out and pray.”

Krasner, for his part, joined the imam in his entreaty that people with information about the crime come forward. The DA appealed to “people who know things. People who know things we all need to know.”

“The way that we get to justice,” he said, “is by having the truth. It is by having the facts.”