NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio — Across two separate shootings, three lives were lost in North Olmsted this week.
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A shooting happened Wednesday around 2:30 p.m. at a home on Lucydale Avenue.
North Olmsted Police say Ameen Farraj shot his brother, Abdulla, one time in the stomach and chest area. Abdulla died from the gunshot wound at the hospital.
Three days later and a second deadly shooting in North Olmsted occured. A man was arrested for killing his wife and 18-year-old son on Saturday.
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44-year-old man Hammodi Ahmed Ali Alnaser has been arrested and charged with two counts of Aggravated Murder. He will have an arraignment at Rocky River Municipal Court on Monday.
"It's a tough week for us because we lost three lives," North Olmsted City Schools Board of Education member, Mohammad Alhawasha told me on Sunday. "One of the families, they live very close to my house, and we know the guy. They are from Iraq. He's a good guy. I [have] never see he has a problem before, but I think too much stress."
A motive in the double homicide has not been publicly shared yet.
Alhawasha said, "We need to stand together and support these families during an incredibly difficult time. This tragedy should also make us ask what more we can do as a community to prevent violence before it reaches this point. We need stronger communication. We need more awareness, conflict resolution resources, and better connection between our families, schools, community organizations, faith institutions, and local resources, because our message today is simple:
These families are not alone. We are here for them. We want to work together to make our community safer and stronger for everyone. What we need is change. We need to become more proactive instead of only reacting after the tragedy when families see a conflict escalating or someone struggling. We need to know where to turn for help before it becomes a big crisis, and that's why we have to stand together as a community."
Black Seed Cafe has started a donation drive for the two families affected by these shootings.
On Sunday, two bins sat in the restaurant for people to drop off physical donations such as clothing and school supplies.
There is also a jar where monetary donations can be dropped into.
Black Seed Cafe co-owner, Mariam Abed told me the two incidents have hit way too close to home, and her family felt like they needed to step in and help.
"If you'd like to donate clothes or toys on their behalf, that would be amazing. I'm sure they would much appreciate it," she said. "We actually have something similar that happened to our family 10 years ago, believe it or not. My sister's husband was actually murdered in his own store through gun violence, and so, it hit close to home knowing that these kids witnessed something like that and what they're going to go through. We just told ourselves like we have to do something, so I hope that this helps them."
The restaurant is also offering free meals for the kids involved in both incidents.
"None of these kids should be able to go through something like this. It kind of just reminded me of what's going on also in Palestine, how these children just suddenly lose their mothers or their fathers. I hope that we're able to help them in any way, and it breaks my heart that I even have to do this," Abed said. "I talked to one of the kids, and he was really shocked.
He had like no words. He was like frantically crying on the phone, and he should not be going through something like this at 14 years old."
For the foreseeable future, Abed said the donation drive will be at the restaurant for those able to stop by.
As for the free meals, the Black Seed Cafe plans to offer that for as long as the children involved need it.
So far, News 5 has verified a GoFundMe for the Farraj family. We are still working to verify the GoFundMe for the Alnaser family.
Abed said their community will continue trying to uplift those impacted. While doing so, she's also hoping to send a message to everyone watching these two stories unfold: choose kindness rather than hatred.
"In regards to the racist comments in the Facebook pages that we have been witnessing lately as in 'the usual suspects' or 'Little Palestine' or whatever things like that, I don't think it's appropriate. I think that the kids are reading these comments and that's not going to help them in this situation. I believe that everyone needs to stand together in the community and not divide us. We're supposed to be one community, no matter what background or race that you come from," Abed said.
