Saskatoon man targeted on walk home from mosque

Saskatoon’s Abu Sheikh says a walk he takes every day turned into a terrifying experience on July 13, 2018.

Sheikh told 650 CKOM he noticed a white pickup truck coming up the street as he walked from the Islamic Centre on Copeland Crescent to his home on Cumberland Avenue around 4 a.m.

“It was the only vehicle on the road,” Sheikh said.

As Sheikh approached his home he says the driver changed lanes and was driving in the wrong direction to get closer to him.

“When he reached the house he drove on the pedestrian (sidewalk) coming at high speed to hit me,” he said.

Sheikh was able to push himself against the bushes outside his home when he says the truck ran over his traditional robe but missed him.

“He for sure was trying to crush me — to run over me,” the 66-year-old said.

Sheikh said the driver rolled down his window and yelled: “what are you doing here.”

The yelling continued, but Sheikh said he suffers from some hearing loss and couldn’t make out what was said.

Abu Sheikh retreated inside his home after a pickup truck allegedly tried to run him over on July 13, 2018. (Keenan Sorokan/650 CKOM)

Sheikh said he was able to crawl between the truck and the bush and get to his front door, where his son let him in.

He said they heard the sound of breaking glass from the front room while his son was on the phone with police.

“There were two bricks in front of my house,” Sheikh said. “He took the bricks and hit the big double glazed window.”

The truck was gone when police arrived five minutes later.

Daughter: “We are resisting hate and celebrating love”

Sheik’s daughter Aisha travelled to Saskatoon from the San Francisco area after he told her what happened.

“I’ve always just had rosy eyes,” she said about her thoughts on Canada. “it kind of shattered a bit of my positive feeling.”

According to Aisha, this isn’t uncommon.

“People came to my dad after and said: ‘my son was going to the mosque and he was pepper-sprayed.'”  While she said police were called to that event too, a formal report was never filed.

In an effort to make something positive out the experience the Sheikh family is hoping to host an event to bring neighbours together.

“We are resisting hate and celebrating love,” Aisha said. “It’s about neighbours without borders, that’s what we want.”

650 CKOM reached out to police for comment June 21, the Sheikh family says they have met with Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Copper.

—With files from CKOM’s Keenan Sorokan and Erin McNutt