Aaisha Abdulla, a 26-year-old woman from Cheektowaga in the Buffalo, New York area, was found dead on the afternoon of June 1, 2026, inside a home on Ellen Drive. Police said Cheektowaga officers responded to the residence at about 3:30 p.m. after a 911 call and discovered Abdulla and her two young sons, 4-year-old Youssef Mohamed and 3-year-old Saif Mohamed, deceased inside the house.
Authorities said all three had been shot to death, turning what had been a family home into the scene of a triple homicide.
The killings came during what prosecutors described as a broader series of fatal attacks that began earlier that same afternoon in Buffalo. Around 2:30 to 2:38 p.m., Buffalo police were called to a store on the 1000 block of Grant Street near Military Road for a reported shooting. There, officers found 43-year-old Shukri Muthana, later identified as a Grant Street deli owner and store clerk, dead at the scene. About an hour later, police were called to the Ellen Drive home in Cheektowaga, where Abdulla and the children were found.
Investigators arrested Saleh Q. Mohamed, 29, of Cheektowaga, who was identified by authorities as Abdulla’s husband and the father of the two boys. Prosecutors accused him of intentionally causing the deaths of his wife and children, and also accused him of intentionally causing the death of Muthana in the earlier Buffalo shooting. Local reporting said Abdulla’s older son, Youssef, had attended Maryvale Elementary, while Saif was 3 years old.
Mohamed was first arraigned late on June 1 before Cheektowaga Town Court Justice John J. Wanat on one count of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder connected to the deaths of Abdulla and the children. On June 2, he was arraigned separately in Buffalo City Court before Judge Erin Hart on one count of second-degree murder connected to Muthana’s death. He was held without bail, and prosecutors said at that stage that additional charges could be filed.
On June 15, 2026, the Erie County District Attorney’s Office announced that Mohamed had been indicted and arraigned in State Supreme Court before Justice Deborah A. Haendiges. The indictment charged him with three counts of murder in the first degree and four counts of murder in the second degree, all Class A-I felonies. Prosecutors said he remained held without bail and was scheduled for a pre-trial conference on July 8, 2026. If convicted of the highest counts, Mohamed faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
In the days after the deaths, the grief spread beyond the crime scene and into Buffalo’s Muslim community. Hundreds gathered at Masjid Al-Salam in Buffalo to pray for Abdulla and her sons before their burial. Mourners carried coffins from the mosque to waiting hearses, and community members described the loss as devastating, especially because two very young children were killed alongside their mother. Public comments from community leaders reflected shock, sorrow, and confusion over why the violence happened and how another tragedy like it could be prevented.
