SALT LAKE CITY -- The teen shot by Salt Lake City Police in late February has awoken from a medically-induced coma, and, for the first time, his family said he’s been able to recount the story from his perspective.
Abdi Mohamed, 17, is still in the hospital, but his cousin, Muslima Weledi, said the teen’s been improving. He can’t walk, but he is able to speak and stay awake.
In a video posted to Weledi’s Facebook account, you can hear Mohamed say “hi” from his hospital bed.
Up until now, she said he’s been communicating with family by writing on a piece of paper.
“He was wondering to himself like, ‘What am I doing in the hospital?’" Weledi explained. "He was telling us about how he didn't know he got shot."
That’s in one of the notes he wrote to family. He asks when he’ll be out of the hospital and writes, “I didn’t even know I got shot.”
But that was during a time period when he’d been in and out of the medically-induced coma. Now, he’s fully awake and aware of what happened.
According to Salt Lake City Police, on the night of February 27, two males were seen attacking a victim with metal objects.
"There was an altercation taking place, and our officers intervened into that altercation," SLCPD Detective Greg Wilking said that night.
When officers ordered the two to drop the weapons, police said one person obeyed, and the other didn’t. Instead, police said that person continued toward the victim and police fired shots.
That male, later identified by family as Mohamed, ended up in the hospital with four gunshot wounds.
"He says he remembers picking up a broomstick and breaking it in half, and the other male picking up the other half," Weledi said, recounting what Mohamed recalled to his family.
"He said when he got shot, he didn't feel the first shot, but the second shot he started feeling a lot of pain, and then after that he blacked out,” Weledi said. “He didn't know what happened after that."
So, was Mohamed beating someone up? Did he fail to listen to police?
“I was like, 'I heard you and someone got in a fight.' He's like, 'I don't remember all that,'" Weledi said.
Weledi said Mohamed doesn’t remember those exact moments, or what exactly led to the shooting.
“He doesn't know why, how he got shot, or where the police came--if they were behind him, or in front of him," she said.
And that, still leaves questions for the family. Ones they hope the investigation and body camera footage will be able to answer.
Weledi said the family is planning to rally on Friday to demand the release of the body cam footage.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill previously told Fox 13 that releasing the footage would compromise the integrity of the investigation, and that the earliest it might be released is upon completion of the investigation.
Unified Police said on Saturday that the investigation is still ongoing.
