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An Alberta man who fired his gun seven times in a hotel room, striking a father of three in the back of the head, received a 15-year prison sentence for manslaughter on Monday.
Ahmed Abdi Hassan, 31, admitted to the March 25, 2024, shooting of Liban Abdirahman, 30, in Calgary.
Originally charged with second-degree murder, Abdi Hassan pleaded guilty to manslaughter after negotiations between defence lawyers Balfour Der and Kaileah Pino and prosecutors Carla MacPhail and Margot Engley.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Chidinma Thompson accepted a joint sentencing proposal from the two lawyers for a 15-year prison sentence.
With credit for the time he’s already served, Abdi Hassan has just over 12 years left.
‘Part of me went with you’
Abdirahman’s mother wrote a victim impact statement in which she told the court that she has nightmares about her son’s death.
“I had only him. I did not have any other child,” wrote the grieving mother. “I sit on the bed and cry at night.”
She also included a Somali poem in her statement that reads, in part: “It’s broken my heart to lose you, my son, but you did not go alone; part of me went with you.”
Hotel room argument
Details of the crime come from an agreed statement of facts prepared and filed as part of the plea.
Court heard that on March 24, 2024, Abdi Hassan, Abdirahman and a third man, Mowlid Yusuf, travelled to Calgary from Edmonton and stayed in a southeast Super 8 hotel room.
Both the killer and the victim consumed a “significant amount of alcohol” through the night, according to the agreed statement of facts.
The next afternoon around 2:15 p.m., Abdi Hassan and Abdirahman got into an argument.
Ahmed Abdi Hassan fatally shot a man in a Calgary hotel room in 2024. He was handed a 15-year sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter. (Calgary Police Service)
According to the facts of the case, Abdi Hassan took out his loaded semi-automatic handgun and shot at Abdirahman seven times.
Three of the shots hit Abdirahman in the arm, torso and head.
Court heard that Abdi Hassan then ran from the room and drove away.
Tipster calls police
Yusuf also left the hotel but returned about 30 minutes later and told hotel staff that someone had been shot.
Abdirahman was found inside the hotel room around 3 p.m. He was still alive but died minutes later despite the life-saving efforts of first responders.
Police released CCTV photos of Abdi Hassan and his vehicle in an attempt to locate the suspect.
Six days later, a man identified in court documents as AB called police with information.
AB told police that Abdi Hassan told him he had “popped someone,” and showed them a photo of a media report about the hotel homicide.
Abdi Hassan was arrested at his home in Red Deer, Alta.
According to the agreed statement of facts, police found the still-loaded gun with a live round in the chamber, which had been used in the homicide, in a garbage bag in the bathroom.