A second woman, a mother of seven, also died in the wrong-way collision early Sunday in Edina.
By Joy Powell, Star Tribune
Monday, March 12, 2007
Instead, the community Sunday grieved for Ahmed, 61, and Halimo Mohamud, 31, a mother of seven.
They were killed early Sunday when authorities say a driver going the wrong way slammed head-on into their car on westbound Hwy. 62 near Hwy. 169 in Edina.
The State Patrol said alcohol was detected in the wrong-way driver, Fei Ni, 23, of Milwaukee. He and a 24-year-old male passenger, whose name was not released, remained in critical condition Sunday night at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.
Word about the crash spread quickly throughout the Somali community, one of the largest in the nation, where many knew Ahmed, a shopkeeper and civic leader who routinely organized hospital vigils and other ways to help fellow East African immigrants.
"She would have been on the front lines of raising money for the victim's family," said Omar Jamal, executive director of a legal rights organization where Ahmed once served as an outreach worker for Somali women, especially the elderly.
Under overcast skies, hundreds gathered at Ahmed's home throughout the day Sunday to mourn her and Mohamud, both of Eden Prairie.
Ahmed and Mohamud were returning from a wedding. It was unclear which woman was driving when the accident happened at 1:50 a.m. a quarter-mile east of Hwy. 169.
Authorities said the wrong-way driver was driving a sport-utility vehicle; the women were in a sedan.
Westbound Hwy. 62 was temporarily closed as investigators reconstructed the accident. The patrol is awaiting the findings of toxicology and other tests, said Lt. Mark Peterson, a patrol spokesman.
Mohamud died at the scene. She is survived by her husband, Hassan Mohamud, and seven children ranging in age from 3 months to 13 years. Her family members could not be reached.
Ahmed died at Hennepin County Medical Center just before 4:30 a.m. She had endured the civil war in Somalia that shattered her hometown of Mogadishu, immigrating in 1997. She left behind two grown sons and two daughters, one adult and one a teen, but had continued to financially support them and others.
Ahmed used a cane to walk, but that didn't slow her dedication to the Somali community, Jamal said.
Ahmed also owned a popular women's clothing shop in the Karmel Square Somali shopping mall at Lake Street and Pillsbury Avenue S. in Minneapolis. She sold perfume, hats and colorful hijab, traditional Somali women's clothing often made from silk.
About two years ago, she traveled with Jamal's Somali Justice Advocacy Center to New York City to meet the president of the interim Somali Republic, Adullahi Yusuf, and tell him of the efforts of the diaspora in this country to help those back home.
"She was a most important member of the advocacy group and a very contributing member of the Somali community," Jamal said.
"She consoled people. She reached out to them. She used to bring the women together. She used to empower the elderly women."
Joy Powell • 612-673-7750 • [email protected]
Source: Star Tribune, Mar 12, 2007