Saturday March 18, 2023
By Lauren Girgis
Fariya Yusuf was shot dead in early March. SUPPLIED
A 26-year-old woman was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday in connection with a fatal shooting at an apartment complex in Seattle’s Othello neighborhood earlier this month, according to court documents.
Prosecutors allege Jamila Ahmed Abdi shot Fariya Yusuf 14 times outside her apartment in the early morning hours of March 4. Abdi is being held in the King County Jail with bail set at $2 million.
Shortly after 2 a.m. March 4, police responded to the 4200 block of South Othello Street and found Yusuf. Emergency responders attempted lifesaving measures, but she
died at the scene.
Surveillance video of the scene showed Abdi drove Yusuf home and the two women stayed in her car for several minutes before Yusuf went inside, according to court documents. Abdi stayed in the car, where she called and texted Yusuf several times “to lure the victim back out onto the street,” prosecutors wrote. She reportedly got out of her car armed with a handgun.
Surveillance footage showed Yusuf later came back down while talking to a friend on the phone and holding a glass of wine. Prosecutors wrote Yusuf then walked toward Abdi, who pulled out the gun and fired 14 rounds into the woman’s body.
The court documents said she continued firing after Yusuf had fallen to the ground, and that several of the wounds would have been fatal.
Her friend on the other end of the call later reported “Jamila” was “blowing up her phone” and she was going outside to see what she wanted. The friend said she heard several shots before the line went dead. She tried to call Yusuf several times with no success.
Abdi fled the scene, according to the court documents. Police later found the car she drove outside her mother’s house. They also found a pair of gloves that appeared to match the pair worn in the video, according to the documents.
Abdi was arrested Friday. During an interview, she said she had taken her mother’s car without her knowledge and gone to pick up Yusuf, who was having a hard time with her boyfriend, according to court documents.
Abdi told police the relationship was toxic and she was concerned, according to court documents. When shown surveillance stills, Abdi denied she was the person shown. She also suggested that the footage was showing a duplicate car with a duplicate plate, and that someone had possibly cloned her phone, according to court documents.
She eventually offered a different story, saying the victim’s boyfriend carjacked her and drove Yusuf home, according to court documents.
Abdi is scheduled to be arraigned on March 23.