Springfield Police ask FBI to join Greyhound bus station shooting investigation due to language barrier
FBI spokesperson says investigators are trying to determine Mohamed Dawod’s motive
Emily Rittman, Jason Crow Reporter, Photographer
3:56 p.m. CDT, September 9, 2011, Springfield, MOSpringfield police are asking the FBI to join their investigation into a shooting at a Greyhound bus station. Officers say around 6:00 Thursday night Mohamed H. Dawod, 25, of Glendale Arizona shot another passenger in the back. The victim, Justin M. Hall, 32, from Ohio died at the hospital from the injuries. Dawod faces a charge of first degree murder and armed criminal action.
Police say because of a language barrier they only learned Dawod’s name. Several bystanders held him to the ground until police arrived. According to court documents, he asked officers to take him to the hospital for injuries he received from the struggle. After he was treated, officers say they tried to interview him at the Springfield Police Department Headquarters. “The suspect claimed he had a limited understanding of the English language and didn’t fully understand his rights,” the officer wrote in the probable cause statement. “Dawod was unwilling to talk with me until after he spoke with an attorney.”
A spokesperson for the FBI in Kansas City says the FBI is providing assistance.
“We’re trying to determine that suspect’s motive, we’ll look at any and all possibilities as to why he committed this act,” Kansas City FBI Spokesperson Bridget Patton said. “We want to caution people to not make any snap type of judgment.”
Ten separate witnesses say they did not notice the men fighting or arguing before the shooting. One passenger said she watched the suspect wander around the terminal until the call to line up to re-board the bus. “She then observed the suspect remove a silver and black handgun from a back pack he was carrying,” the officer wrote. “The suspect then pointed the handgun upward while saying something. The witness could not understand what the suspect said and didn’t know if he was speaking English.” No matter what was said the witness said Hall didn’t react or turn around. Shortly after the witness says Dawod shot him from a few feet away.
Police believe Dawod got on the Greyhound bus in Amarillo, Texas. After about 13 hours on the road, the bus stopped in Springfield for a 15 minute break. Witness Brandon Coalston says he is thankful bystanders wrestled the gun away from Dawod. “They are a good person for that it was very heroic,” Coalston said. “If I was in there I would have tackled the guy too. There were babies in there.”
Officer David Snider says police do not know what language Dawod was speaking. “We have no concern. This is going to be an isolated incident,” Snider said. “The reason we referred to the bureau is because they have expertise. We do have a language barrier with the person we arrested. We asked them for some help on this.”
A Greyhound spokesman says firearms are strictly prohibited. “At various locations we do random wanding and bag checks but I would say the most important measure we’ve taken is to aggressively enforce our zero tolerance policy with respect to unruly or aggressive passengers,” spokesman Tim Stokes said. “Aggressive or threatening behavior even displayed as humor will be taken as a serious offense.” Stokes says Greyhound also follows TSA’s alert level color indicator. “We do have procecures in place for each level the TSA has,” Stokes said.
The bus Dawod and Hall were riding was scheduled to leave Springfield and head to St. Louis. Police say its final stop was in Boston, Massachusetts.
Police are still investigating if there was any connection between Dawod and Hall. Dawod is held without bond in the Greene County Jail.
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Looks like another sad case of Sudden Jihad Syndrome.
The suspect’s asking to be taken to the hospital and claiming he does not speak/understand English well enough to understand his rights is standard operating procedure taught to jihadis in America.
They are trained to lie and dissemble in order to manipulate our justice system.
He may well be acting on his own, but I’d bet money that he’s been trained either in person or online.
One thing we can count on is that there are a lot more like him inside our nation. They are not going to attack en masse – that would cause too great of a reaction. Rather they are going to attack and kill us a few at a time and stay below the threshold that their liberal apologist sycophants in the media and government can ‘explain’ away.
They are evil and fanatically so – but they, or at least enough of their leaders, are smart, cunning and understand our weaknesses far better than most of us do.
They are boiling us like a frog…
You took my son, you coward, shooting my son in the back, I wish for all of you jihad m_____ f______ to suffer now through eternity. Come get me you sorry m_____ f______. You are ALL personified evil. To cowardly to shoot yourselves.
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