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Suspect, cited and released, is Burlington resident and Somali refugee convicted in 2018 of machete attack on 73-year-old Meals on Wheels driver
By Guy Page
Abukar Ibrahim, 38, of Burlington was charged with aggravated assault and trespassing July 1 after Burlington police say he threatened to kill the person warning him against trespassing on a South Union Street property.
Abukar was arrested and jailed, with bail. [Editor – Previous reports that he was cited and released, as reported by Burlington PD, were incorrect.]
Police responded at 5:51 PM to a report of a man brandishing a knife and threatening an individual on South Union Street.
While en route, officers saw the man described by the caller leaving the area. He eluded officers, who recognized him from prior police interactions. Investigation revealed Ibrahim pulled a knife out and threatened to kill an individual when the individual was explaining to Ibrahim he was trespassed from the area.
Half an hour later, after canvassing the city, officers located Ibrahim and took him into custody. He was jailed, with bail, following arrest.
Ibrahim’s criminal history shows one felony conviction and one misdemeanor charge. The felony conviction was for his attack with a machete on a 73-year-old Meals on Wheels delivery driver in Shelburne, BPD confirmed today.
In early January, 2018, Ibrahim, then 32, assaulted 73-year-old Meals on Wheels volunteer Johanne LaGrange with a machete outside Harbor Place on Shelburne Road in Shelburne, after vandalizing vehicles and threatening other individuals nearby. Ibrahim “willfully, deliberately and with premeditation, and with intent to kill” assaulted his victim, as reported by the Daily Caller and the Shelburne News.
The Daily Caller confirmed that Ibrahim is a Somali refugee. “DHS can confirm that Abukar Ibrahim is a foreign-born naturalized United States citizen who initially entered the United States as the derivative child of a Somali refugee,” a DHS spokesperson in January, 2018 told the Daily Caller. “This underscores the importance of enhancing the screening of individuals seeking admission to the U.S. as refugees to improve the safety and security of the American people.”
Ibrahim reportedly was involved in a domestic assault case late in 2017. A judge prohibited him from possessing any weaponry.
According to WCAX, a Burlington resident named Abukar Ibrahim in 2017 reported scrawlings of racist graffiti at the Wharf Lane apartments in Burlington. The Arabic name is not uncommon, and it is not clear if the man who reported the graffiti is the alleged assailant. Neither are the particulars of Ibrahim’s life in Vermont. But there is some information about the history that led Somali refugees to Vermont.
1991 war in Somalia created refugee crisis – A graph in a 2019 Seven Days news report shows that Somali immigration peaked in 2004-05 at about 140 people per year, and afterwards continued, the numbers reduced but constant.
Many of the Somalis who moved to Vermont were fleeing the 1991 civil war. “The crisis forced a mass exodus of people who often had to leave their homes without their belongings, hoping to find a safe place beyond Somalia’s borders,” Mitch Wertlieb of Vermont Public reported in December, 2023.
Some refugees first spent years, even decades, in middle-eastern refugee camps resembling little more than an ‘open air prison,’ Wertlieb reported. While many Somali refugees have adjusted to the stark physical, social, educational and economic differences between their native land and Vermont, others – including many young men – have had difficulty making the transition.
More recently, legally-resettled refugees arrived in Vermont in May, 2024 from the following countries: Congo, 15 people; Somalia, 8. Nicaragua, 5; Afghanistan, 4.
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Categories: Burlington, Crime
CITED AND RELEASED ! ! ! A person with a violent history in 2018 with a michete, now in 2024 threatened to kill someone. The response was to Cite and Release ❓ What is wrong with Burlington ? My God, is that the best Burlington can give to make citizens feel safe ❓ He should have been locked up until the court date. Is there anyone left in the Judicial system of Burlington with any common sense ?
“Honey, how about a trip with the kids to Burlington, Vermont this summer? They say it’s beautiful there in June and July!”
” No thanks, dear. I don’t want to deal with possible machete assaults and gunfire incidents.”
“Sweetie Pie, how about we check out Burlington, Vermont for our retirement home?”
“Thanks but no thanks, Punkin. Been a lotta gun incidents there past three years.”
“Honey Boo, how about we head to Church Street for a bite to eat?”
“How about somewhere else, Kitty Cat? You forgetting how we got into such a tangle with that strange man when we went to the Flynn last year, and then the car was keyed?”
“Lovins, how about we go for a bike ride on the Burlington Path tomorrow?”
” Baby, you’re joking, right?”
For Americans, the only “crisis” associated with Somalia is that so many of it’s inhabitants were allowed into the formerly-civilized United States. This is not a statement about race, but simply about culture. Regardless of his status as a US citizen, he should be given a one-way ticket back to his African paradise and if he is ever found to be on US soil again, to spend the rest of his living existence in federal prison. Then he can learn the real meaning of trespass laws. I can only hope that any of the future victims of his crimes are dedicated demo-prog voters.
And if a law-abiding, concealed carrying person used a weapon to defend themself against this guy, they would be arrested and probably put in jail then later charged with a hate crime. Until the actual law is working to protect citizens from savage attacks by known felons no one should be surprised when this happens in the future. I hope there’s a follow-up to this incident and the judge’s name is made public. If he kills someone in the future, who’s fault will that be, the savage, the judge, the system or all three. We have a natural right to defend ourselves against those who the system improperly deals with and the voters can change direction in November. How much more will they let slide until maybe their daughter, son, husband or wife is murdered by diversity and the watering down of our culture.
Did he make his court appearance today ??????
Come at me with a knife and you will get a well-deserved dirt nap.
Right on brother. A waste of oxygen.
The right of self defense is being eliminated.
Please provide the name of the judge so we can ALL write him/her.
I didn’t need another excuse to never set foot in Burlington again. But, I don’t mind being reminded of wise choices.
The next wave of 300k from Haiti has just been invited in by Biden executive order. Somalia is tame in comparison to Haiti.
Correction, outdoor tables and chairs have returned to City Market.
Every time a bleeding-heart liberal politician brings people like this to Vermont they put Vermonters in potential danger. The cultures that these people come from have nothing in common with life in Vermont. They are not civilized. Some of these people would kill you or your loved ones for a pack of cigarettes, that’s what a life is worth to a savage. We have all heard of Somali pirates operating on the ocean with AK47 full-auto machine guns attacking merchant ships. Yet, our so-called republican governor, wearing his heart on his sleeve and trying to prove that he’s a humanitarian will again put your life in danger by bringing them here where they should never be. When the blood is spilled by these people, you can thank a liberal politician who cares less about your safety and more about feeling good about themselves. Bringing them here to prey on our citizens is poor judgement and voting for Joe Biden is a prime example of what not to do.
the united states no longer defends its citizens from invaders!
After the 73 year old, where was ICE hauling him to the airport bound for Somalia ?
Yeah not with the current administration
I wonder where we can go when our civil war breaks out? Would Canada accept us as refugees??
OK see, this guy should not be out, the machete attack alone should have sealed that deal. Either he is a violent psychopath or is is mentally insane, either way he should be locked up. Someone pulling a knife and threatening to kill someone, has crossed a line and IMO is subject to deadly force self defense. I’m quite sure Sarah George would disagree, as it seems violence is only acceptable (in her mind) for aggressors not defenders!
I see Abukar all the time when I visit City Market downtown. He is constantly begging for money. If I dine outside, he is always there, walking back and forth, asking folks for money. He has come up to my car asking for money. I have witnessed him at least 3 times yell at one of the resource officers who verbally tell him to leave as he has been trespassed. He repeatedly yells, “Get out of my face!”
Ed, the “vibrant city” of Burlington is lucky to have you as a spokesperson and promoter of all of it’s fine amenities and lovable characters…thanks for the warning.
Note that because of drug dealers and clients using the outdoor dining furniture overnight, City Market has removed the outdoor dining furniture. I have heard of other goings on outside during the day which I have not witnessed. The City Market security folks are very busy and very good at their jobs.
Sorry to previously post this as a reply.
Correction, outdoor tables and chairs have returned to City Market.
What’s so special about this story? Just a normal day in Burlington. Burlington residents have what the progressives have been working for. Congratulations.