Man held on $2M bail in fatal shooting of ex-friend after funeral

A 20-year-old Seattle man was charged with first-degree murder on Monday, accused of fatally shooting a former friend, according to prosecutors. The alleged victim was on the phone with his mother after attending the funeral of another shooting victim when he was killed.

Mohamed Omar allegedly threw away his gun and hopped a bus to Minneapolis on Aug. 2, two days after he’s accused of executing a 20-year-old former friend in the street after both men attended the funeral of another shooting victim, according to Seattle police and King County prosecutors.

Omar, also 20, returned to Seattle after his mother brokered a meeting between police and her son Wednesday; Omar was arrested at that meeting with detectives and booked into the King County Jail, charging papers say.

He was charged Monday with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Zakariya Issa, who was on the phone with his mother when Omar allegedly jumped out of a car, knocked him to the ground with a punch to the face, then stood over him and shot him three times in the head, according to the charges.

He was initially held in lieu of $1 million bail, but a judge has since increased Omar’s bail to $2 million, jail and court records show.

Omar, “without provocation, ambushed the unarmed victim, and shot him in the head three times, executing him in broad daylight,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Wyman Yip wrote in charging documents.

Prosecutors asked for the bail increase, saying he is a danger to the community and a flight risk with ties to Minnesota, Michigan and Somalia, charging papers say.

On July 31, Omar borrowed his mother’s BMW to attend the funeral of Muldhata Dawud, who was killed in adrive-by shooting in Federal Way on July 30, according to charging papers.

After the funeral, a friend of Omar’s — who is known to police but is identified in charging documents as “John Doe” — was driving the car with Omar in the front passenger seat as they headed south on 44th Avenue South near South Cloverdale Street, the papers say.

Issa, who was on his cellphone talking to his mother, was walking north on 44th Avenue South when Omar jumped out of the BMW and “immediately punched the victim hard in the face/head, dropping the victim to the ground,” the charges say. Omar yelled at Issa for a few seconds, pulled a gun from his waistband and opened fire, then got back in the car, which continued south on 44th, according to charging documents.

Two people in another vehicle witnessed the fatal shooting and provided police with a description of the gunman and the BMW’s license-plate number, the papers say.

Police tracked the car to Omar’s mother, who told detectives she had heard a couple hours after the shooting that a “Somali boy” had been killed and rushed to the scene, thinking it was her son who had been shot because Omar hadn’t been answering his phone, say charging papers.

The day after the shooting, Omar called his mother and told her he’d left the BMW on Rainier Avenue South because it was low on gas — and she picked it up and drove it home, according to the charges.

Detectives learned that Omar and Issa used to be friends, but Issa believed Omar had burglarized his house in the past, the papers say. In retaliation, Issa stole money and a car from Omar in September — a dispute that ended their friendship, according to the charges.

Police confirmed Omar took a Greyhound bus to Minneapolis on Aug. 2, say the charges, which also allege he threw his gun in “the ocean” from a bridge or highway overpass. The weapon has not been recovered.