An Iraqi immigrant was killed last week in northeast Dallas as he stood outside watching his first snowfall.
Family members said 36-year-old Ahmed Al-Jumaili ran outside his apartment complex early Thursday with his wife and brother to take pictures of the snow when someone within a small group of
men nearby opened fire with a rifle, The Dallas Morning News reported. He was pronounced dead at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital shortly after.
Police suggested no motive for the killing and have not yet identified a suspect.
"Just like all of us, a pretty snowfall brings the child out in us," Dallas police Maj. Jeff Cotner told The Morning News. "You can just imagine the excitement between his wife and his brother and himself as they were enjoying the snowfall."
Cotner said that while the apartment complex has a majority of immigrants living there, he and officials with the Council on American-Islamic Relations' chapter in North Texas do not believe the shooting was a hate crime.
Still, Alia Salem, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations at Dallas-Fort Worth, urged local law enforcement to examine the
religious bias angle, according to WFAA-TV.
"Because of recent incidents targeting American Muslims, including the murder of three young Muslims in North Carolina, we urge law enforcement authorities to address community concerns about a motive in this case," Salem said.
Salem said that Al-Jumaili had just recently joined the family in the U.S. after staying behind in Baghdad last year to save money.
Azhar al-Rawi, a friend of the family who lives in Iraq, told The Morning News in a text message that Al-Jumaili was always smiling but his goal was always to make enough money to reunite with his family in Texas.
Salem told the newspaper that the family has been struggling to get over the shooting incident that took Al-Jumaili's life and don't understand why it happened.
"The father-in-law is holding up better than everybody, but even he broke down," she said. "It's just such a violent situation you don't imagine."
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