(File Photo of a Gavel)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Pittsburgh, PA) United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today that a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh has charged six residents of the greater Pittsburgh area with violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act,
obstructing justice, and conspiring to obstruct justice in relation to a September of 2024 attack on a Jewish male in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, The seven-count Indictment named these six individuals as defendants: twenty-seven-year-old Muhammed Koc of Pittsburgh, twenty-eight-year-old Omar Alshmari of Monroeville, twenty-two-year-old Abraham Choudhry of Monroeville, twenty-four-year-old Emirhan Arslan of McKees Rocks, nineteen-year-old Ali Alkaheel of Pittsburgh and twenty-two-year-old Adeel Piracha of Murrysville. According to the Indictment, on or about September 27th, 2024, at 2:01 a.m., the defendants except for Piracha were all part of a group that made virulent antisemitic statements to a passerby in Oakland upon seeing the individual’s necklace bearing a Star of David pendant. After a verbal
confrontation, during which additional antisemitic comments were made, Alshmari and Koc physically attacked the victim, which caused bodily injury that included physical pain, a split lip, and headaches. The Indictment charges Koc and Alshmari, aiding and abetting one another, with willfully causing bodily injury to the victim because of the individual’s actual and perceived race and religion.
Later that day, and throughout the following months, Piracha and the other defendants discussed the incident via social media messaging and group chats, during which Alshmari identified himself and Koc as two of the individuals listed in a University of Pittsburgh crime alert about the attack. In subsequent conversations by text messaging, both Alshmari and Koc admitted to being involved in the attack on the victim. The Indictment further alleges that the defendants conspired with one another to obstruct and did obstruct the due administration of justice regarding this crime by, for example, agreeing to falsely align their testimony about the attack and providing false and misleading information before the federal grand jury. Several defendants testified falsely as to whether they or others struck the victim, whether the attack was related to the victim’s Jewish identity and Star of David necklace, and whether
they had discussed with any others what to say to the grand jury, among other false statements. The defendants could face a maximum total sentence of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both, provided by the law, for the hate crime and obstruction of justice counts. The defendants could face a maximum total sentence of up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both, provided by the law, for the conspiracy to obstruct justice count.
