Two Columbus men face felony weapons charges in connection with a fatal shooting Oct. 19 near a mosque on the city’s Northeast Side, according to Franklin County Municipal Court records reported by The Columbus Dispatch. Arrest warrants were issued this week for Nadir Ibrahim and Yonis Omar, both 18, and neither man was in custody as of Thursday evening, Oct. 29, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
Ibrahim is accused of improperly handling a firearm inside a motor vehicle, and Omar is charged with carrying a concealed weapon, The Columbus Dispatch reported, citing the court records. Both charges are fourth-degree felonies. Neither man is accused of fatally shooting the victim, 21-year-old Luqmaan Cusmaan, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The shooting happened at about 2:12 p.m. Oct. 19 near the Alrahma Mosque, 2205 Albert Ave., just east of Westerville Road and State Route 3, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Police have said the shooting may have started with an incident at an apartment complex just down the street, according to The Columbus Dispatch’s reporting.
According to court filings described by The Columbus Dispatch, officers who arrived found Cusmaan lying partially inside the right rear passenger seat of a 2016 Chrysler 200 with a gunshot wound, and he was later pronounced dead by Mifflin Township medics. Investigators reviewing surveillance footage allege Ibrahim got out of the Chrysler from the rear driver’s-side door and began firing a handgun before fleeing, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
Court records also state that Omar, an employee of the mosque, was inside the building while a funeral service was being held before he followed several juveniles involved in the incident, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Omar was then seen pulling a handgun from beneath his thobe and firing at one of the juvenile suspects, according to those records as reported by The Columbus Dispatch.
The warrant for Ibrahim was filed Oct. 27 and the warrant for Omar was filed Oct. 28, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The cases are in Franklin County Municipal Court, and the warrants remained outstanding Thursday evening.
For Northeast Side residents, the filings mark the first charges publicly tied to a broad-daylight shooting that killed a 21-year-old outside a house of worship during a funeral service. What happens next is the arrest and first court appearances of the two men, where a judge would address bond and schedule further hearings in the cases.