Shooting suspect Ali A. Hassan
As he was being taken into custody Wednesday night for the shootings of two people at a Far East Side group home, Ali A. Hassan told police, “I shot everyone in that house,” according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.
Shooting victim Fatoumata Jallow. Photo credit: Gainako
Hassan, 25, of Madison, was charged Friday with first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide for the shootings of a woman identified by a relative as Fatoumatta Jallow, 23, who died, and another woman whose identity was not revealed in the complaint. Both women worked at the home and were identified in the criminal complaint only by their initials.
Madison Ald. Samba Baldeh speaks about the shooting death of his cousin, Fatoumata Jallow, following an initial appearance for Ali Hassan in Dane County Circuit Court on Friday. Pictured at left is Ald. Amanda Hall.
The home’s three residents were not harmed.
The complaint does not describe a motive for the shootings, but a cousin of Jallow, Madison Ald. Samba Baldeh, described it as a workplace shooting.
The shootings happened at a group home for cognitively disabled people run by REM Wisconsin at 5333 Kevins Way.
Both Jallow and Hassan worked for REM Wisconsin, but Executive Director Shelley Hansen-Blake said the two never worked a shift together.
“In fact, they only ever worked in the same program on the same day once last summer,” Hansen-Blake said, referring to payroll records, “and there was a gap of several hours between their shifts.”
Baldeh, who represents District 17 on Madison’s Far East Side, said after Hassan appeared in court Friday that Jallow was “the most respectful human being you will ever meet in the world.”
Baldeh described Jallow as quiet, peaceable and intelligent, and said she intended to go back to school to eventually earn a nursing degree from UW-Madison.
Baldeh said Jallow came to Madison from Gambia less than a year ago, but her mother still lives there. Her father has lived in Madison for about 20 years, Baldeh said. He described her death as “terrible, very shocking” to her family, which he said is “close,” and “always together.”
Hassan was jailed on $1 million bail, by stipulation between Assistant District Attorney Patrick Winter and state Assistant Public Defender Jon Helland. He will be back in court for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 29.
Baldeh said the shooting was a workplace conflict, not over a romantic relationship between Jallow and Hassan that had gone bad. The two were never in a relationship, he said, but had worked in the same group home.
Baldeh said that Hassan “treated her as if she is his daughter,” acting toward Jallow in a controlling manner. He said she had told her father about her concerns about Hassan. He also said that Hassan had been removed from the group home.
After completing a screening process and criminal background checks, Hassan was hired by REM Wisconsin in August 2014, Hansen-Blake said. He was a full-time employee who worked at different programs within the company based on their staffing needs.
“By all accounts, he was well liked by his coworkers,” Hansen-Blake said.
Hansen-Blake said that no indications of workplace difficulties between Hassan and Jallow were found in personnel files or records from REM’s confidential compliance hotline.
According to the complaint:
After police received a call about shots fired at the home, an officer was in the garage when he heard screams coming from inside the house and forced open a door. Once inside, he found a woman at the bottom of a set of stairs, and saw that she had been shot.
The officer, Sgt. Michael Alvarez, took the woman out of the house. As he was doing that, she pointed at the front door, which prompted Alvarez to ask if a suspect had fled through the front door. She nodded. She described the man and said his name was Ali.
Officer Timothy Liston, who was responding to the call, saw the suspect description on his squad car computer, and as he approached the intersection of Inwood Way and Open Wood Way, he saw someone matching that description.
Police Chief Mike Koval said Wednesday night that Hassan had run into another vehicle with his car in the 5000 block of Open Wood Way.
Liston took Hassan into custody, and as he did so, Hassan made several statements without being asked questions. Among them, he said, “I shot everyone in that house.”
Another officer, Kristin Parks, heard Hassan say, “Just take me to jail,” “I hurt two people,” and “I took one’s life.”
Asked about the type of gun he used, Hassan said it was a 9mm handgun that was registered to him. A black handgun was found at the group home, and a 9mm bullet casing was found in the basement bathroom, near where Jallow’s body was found.
Jallow died from multiple gunshot wounds to her torso and right arm, an autopsy found.
The other woman sustained what was described as “10 bullet holes” in her body, though it wasn’t known which were entry or exit wounds. She had been shot in her right arm, right side and several times in her chest. Her gallbladder had to be removed, along with portions of her stomach and liver.
