Fox News Flash top headlines for August 31
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A man in Portland who was out on bail thanks to a liberal "volunteer-run abolitionist organization" was arrested and charged for allegedly murdering the mother of his children just one week after being released from jail, according to local reports.
Mohamed Osman Adan was arrested on Aug. 10 over allegations he cut off a GPS monitor he was wearing and broke a no-contact order stemming from allegations of strangulation and attempted assault against the mother of his children, 36-year-old Rachael Angel Abraham.
He is accused of entering Abraham’s townhome on July 26, which resulted in a warrant for his arrest.
Adan was able to post bail on Aug. 20, after Portland Freedom Fund president Amanda Trujillo provided $2,000 in funds, the Oregonian reported. His bail was set at $20,000, but Oregon often allows a 10% deposit of the full amount in order for someone to be released.
MINNESOTA BAIL FUND PROMOTED BY KAMALA HARRIS FREED CONVICT NOW CHARGED WITH MURDER
Photo shows a Portland police vehicle taken in 2021. (REUTERS/John Rudoff) (REUTERS/John Rudoff)
The Portland Freedom Fund is a self-described volunteer organization that "only post bail for Black, Brown and Indigenous folks in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties."
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Jerry B. Hodson had denied requests for Adan’s release and a lower bail one day prior to Trujillo posting his bail, according to the outlet. A prosecutor in the county, Mackenzie M. Ludwig, had also told the judge that there were "significant lethality factors" surrounding Adan’s case and argued he remain behind bars.
On Saturday, one week after Adan posted bail, police responded to Abraham’s townhome and found her fatally strangled and stabbed.
A 911 call was made just after 7:30 a.m. Saturday, but the call disconnected and the dispatcher was unable to make contact with the person in a follow-up call. Another call to 911 was soon made by a neighbor who reported a fight between a man and a woman. The caller reported she saw Adan push a woman against a second-story window that was open and heard screaming, the Oregonian reported.
Adan called police a few hours later and said Abraham was dead.
Photo of 36-year-old Racheal Angel Abraham, the victim of a recent homicide in Portland, Oregon. (Portland Police Bureau)
Officers found Abraham’s body covered with a bedsheet in a child’s bedroom on top of a carpet soaked with blood, according to an affidavit. Prosecutors said her body showed bruises on her neck and arms, cuts to her hands and a large vertical cut across her face. A kitchen knife was found near her body, according to court records.
Apartments at the 3200 block of Southeast 92nd Avenue in Portland, Oregon. (Google Maps) (Google Maps)
Medical examiners determined strangulation was her cause of death, according to the affidavit.
Police found Adan downstairs at the home with three young children, ranging from ages two to seven. Adan and Abraham shared two children together out of Abraham’s total of six children, according to Adan’s family. The couple were together from about 2017 to this year, the Oregonian reported.
Additionally, Adan had refused instruction from the 911 dispatcher to perform CPR on Abraham when he made the 911 call, according to the affidavit.
"Our prosecutors aggressively pursued a high bail amount in this case," District Attorney Mike Schmidt said in a statement following the death of Rachael Angel Abraham on Saturday. "Mr. Adan’s intent to kill the victim was unambiguous. After the judge set Adan’s bail, the Portland Freedom Fund undermined our efforts and the efforts of the court to save the victim’s life by using their resources to bail him out."
"When a judge imposes bail, the defendant’s ability to pay is among the factors they consider. The action taken by the Portland Freedom Fund circumvented this, with tragic results. We offer our deepest condolences to the family of the victim, and will dedicate our efforts to the full prosecution of this matter," the statement, which was provided to Fox News Digital, continued.
Abraham was described as a "a kind, warmhearted woman. A lovely person," according to Adan’s sister.
"All that she cared about was her children," Ramla Adan told the Oregonian. "They’re all she thought about." Abraham’s children are currently living with family members.
PORTLAND, THE SITE OF MASSIVE GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTS, HAS BEEN RAVAGED BY VIOLENT CRIME SINCE
Former Democratic state Sen. Margaret Carter added to the outlet that she had taken Abraham into her home about 12 years ago and the young woman had become like a goddaughter to her. They had not been in contact for the last few years, and she described being "angry" over the woman’s death.
"I’m just really angry," Carter said. "This woman did not deserve what happened to her."
Carter asked why the Portland Freedom Fund had not done a more thorough background check on Adan’s case before posting his bail.
Portland, Oregon skyline (David Papazian via Getty Images) (David Papazian via Getty Images)
Six of Adan’s last nine arrests were domestic violence-related involving Abraham, according to the Oregonian. She had petitioned for a restraining order in May, alleging that Adan had repeatedly physically assaulted or threatened her, including reportedly punching her in the head as she slept and saying that he "put a gun on my head and then he said he was playing."
"Before, when I told him that I was leaving him," she wrote in the petition, "he told me that he would kill me."
The Portland Freedom Fund published a public statement on Facebook Tuesday saying their "thoughts are with the families and communities affected by this tragedy, particularly the children who have effectively lost both parents."
The statement added that members of the fund had been in contact with Adan "throughout the time between his release and re-arrest and did not receive any indications for concern."
"The court had deemed him eligible for bail release and he was referred to us as a financial provider for two small children with a letter of community support," the statement added.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Portland Freedom Fund on Wednesday morning for additional comment.
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Similar freedom fund organizations grew in prominence in 2020 following the death of George Floyd and as protests and riots erupted across the country in support of Black Lives Matter and defund the police movements. Vice President Kamala Harris threw her support behind the Minnesota Freedom Fund that year, encouraging her Twitter followers to donate to the fund to help bail out the protesters arrested during the riots.
