Canada-wide warrant issued for suspect following Edmonton’s latest homicide

 

What started as a beef in the bar turned fatal Wednesday morning, leaving one man dead and Edmonton police on the hunt for a missing murder suspect.

 

Police found Bekri Mohamed, 31, dead on the floor of Papyrus Lounge Nov. 5 after they’d been called to the business on a weapons complaint.

 

Thanks to eyewitnesses at the club located near 111 Street and 107 Avenue, EPS were able to identify Luqman Osman as their main suspect.

 

EPS Staff Sgt. Bill Clark said without the help from the “courageous” people on scene and in Edmonton’s local Somali community, this might have been another murder case left unsolved.

“I’ve got to say, in this investigation we’re very happy with the cooperation we’ve got from several individuals who were in the lounge that night,” said Clark. “Numerous people in the… Somali community have stepped up in this case.”

Luqman Osman is wanted on a nationwide warrant for second-degree murder, along with other weapons charges.

Clark said Osman is no stranger to the justice system and is currently out on parole after a Jan. 1 shooting this year at an Ethiopian-Canadian community centre.

“I don’t know why he was out on bail,” said Clark. “We consider him a dangerous individual. He has a lengthy history with police for some violent offences.

Clark said maybe if Osman hadn’t been released on bail, this latest shooting might not have happened.

Leaders in the local Somali community responded to the shooting Wednesday night by gathering to discuss the victim and suspect.

“Still we are trying to collect more information on how this happened. We’re working to locate the victim’s family and friends,” Bashir Ahmed, executive director of Somali Canadian Education & Rural Development Organization,

Ahmed said it’s unclear to community leaders if either of the men were Somali.

In the last three years, Ahmed said the Somali community has worked to deter crime among local youth, but this latest incident is a wake-up call.

“We were very upset about this incident and shocked,” he said. “This has been awkward for our community because we haven’t seen this for the last three or four years.”

Edmonton’s Public Safety Compliance Team has initiated a regulatory investigation into Papyrus, which has been the location of several shootings, including one in 2011.