Chicago Jewish mother shares her opposition to the response to alleged hate crime: "Terrorism on my property"

Last month, the alleged hate crime and terror attack that occurred in Malka Reich's front yard has disrupted her life as a stay-at-home mother.

The Chicago resident has been living with the horrors of rising antisemitism for the past year, but she says that the trauma of witnessing terrorism on her property was particularly harrowing. She believes that officials are trying to conceal key facts about the attack, which she described to Planet Chronicle Digital.

On the morning of Oct. 26, the mother of five was resting in her Rogers Park home, reading a cookbook while her baby napped. Her husband had left the home 20 minutes earlier to take their four older children to synagogue. Suddenly, the mother heard gunshots and believed they were coming from suspect Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, who was allegedly shooting a 39-year-old Orthodox Jewish man walking to synagogue on the morning of the Sabbath. Abdallahi is accused of later firing at police officers and paramedics before being shot and apprehended.

Someone in a safety vest was running outside and Reich remembered looking out the window.

She thought the man might assist, but when police gathered, she recognized the suspect had fled.

Reich left her house to find the police, worried about the victim's identity as her father or husband. The police remained tight-lipped, refusing to provide any information.

Reich ran back home where her baby still slept.

"She recounted how she heard the second round of gunfire, then ran downstairs and saw her neighbor hiding behind a tree with a dog."

The neighbor of Reich, who was caught on camera by Reich's Ring camera, saw the alleged shooter and would have been killed if Reich had not intervened.

As her neighbor fled, Reich claimed that she observed the suspect emerge from the shadows of her driveway. She was so close to him that she could have smelled him if it weren't for the glass barrier separating them. Reich stated that the suspect aimed and fired at her neighbor. Reich described the suspect's handgun as "chunky" and black.

At that moment," Reich remarked, "I believed he would return for me, given the prominently displayed Israeli-American flag outside my residence.

Reich stated that the suspect returned to the driveway before turning and making a "suicide push" towards the police.

She locked herself in her baby's room with a knife until a neighbor informed her that the suspect had been apprehended.

The Chicago Police Department did not verify the details, stating in their Oct. 31 press conference that they would only provide additional information about the case after reading the full proffer to Abdallahi next week. Abdallahi is currently recovering from injuries sustained in the shootout with police. The department has discovered that Abdallahi had planned the shooting and targeted people of the Jewish faith.

The Chicago Police Department's quick response to the incident was praised by Reich as "super brave" and "supportive of the Jewish community." Although the individual police officers she spoke to believed it was a hate crime, the Chicago PD waited until they had enough evidence before making an official announcement.

Reich's experience caused trauma that persisted beyond the event itself. Despite her proximity to the events, she discovered that media coverage of her experience was often unclear and distorted the details she shared.

Since the shooting, her life has been plagued with difficulties, including ongoing headaches and sleepless nights.

The terrorism that's coming over the border is not the only concern, according to Reich. She believes that the cover-up is also coming from both the government and the media. Initial reports of the incident were limited in details, as officials refused to confirm much about the nature of the attack. Police at first did not acknowledge that the victim was Jewish. Mayor Brandon Johnson took days to acknowledge the religious background of Abdallahi's Jewish victim, after an initial public statement that ignored it completely.

The Chicago Police have not confirmed what the suspect said during the gunfire exchange with officers, despite several requests from reporters. The Ring doorbell camera of Reich caught the suspect shouting an Arabic phrase, according to some reports.

A police official stated at a news conference prior to the filing of hate crime and terrorism charges that the statement made by the suspect while interacting with our officers does not provide any evidence to support any motive against his actions towards our officers or the victim.

Officials from Planet Chronicle Digital had conflicting views on whether certain information about the incident could be confirmed, despite ongoing discussions. Further details are expected to be released when the full proffer is filed in the near future.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling disclosed that evidence showed the suspect had planned the shooting and targeted people of the Jewish faith when the police announced the hate crime charge.

Abdallahi, a Mauritanian national, entered the U.S. illegally and was later apprehended in California in March 2023. Officials did not provide much information about him, but Planet Chronicle later confirmed these details.

The history of trauma for Jews in Chicago dates back further than Oct. 26, as Reich recounted how a group of activists with Students for Justice in Palestine would aggressively target the Hillel table when she was at Illinois Institute of Technology over a decade ago.

The heightened feeling of hate resulting from the Oct. 7 attacks was further intensified by the anti-Israel activity in the city over the past year. Reich reports that she is always concerned about her husband's safety when he goes downtown and no longer feels comfortable walking around Northwestern's lakefront area.

Reich explained how they have made significant changes in their lives to prevent and protect their children from the negative impact.

Despite her children attending private schools, Reich once believed that public schools were a viable option. However, she now regrets that "it has come to a point where people cannot send their children to public schools if they are outwardly Jewish."

This report was contributed to by Planet Chronicle' Ronn Blitzer, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Greg Norman, Adam Shaw, Bill Melugin, and Griff Jenkins.