Somali man sentenced to 40 years for killing 15-year-old boy

A Jackson County judge had on Tuesday sentenced a 40-year-old Somali man to 40 years in prison for killing a 15-year-old Somali boy outside a Kansas City mosque in December 2014.

In December 2019, the man, Ahmed Aden, pleaded guilty to second degree murder and armed criminal action.

Prosecutors had initially charged Aden with first degree murder in the killing of Abdisamad Sheikh-Hussein, a second-year student at Staley High School, Kansas.

According to authorities, the victim was struck as he stood outside a vehicle near the mosque at Admiral Boulevard and Lydia in Kansas City. The victim had just finished leading the prayer and was about to leave with his friends when the incident took place.

Prosecutors requested a life sentence (30 years) plus 15 years, and the judge on Tuesday, 4 August 2020, sentenced Aden to 30 years on the second-degree murder conviction and 10 years more on the armed criminal action charge. He set the sentences to run consecutively.

Prosecutors argued that the crime was heinous, and the defendant was outwardly anti-Muslim.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the sentencing hearing was held on Tuesday in the Jackson County Courthouse with most observers participating virtually via WebEx.