By On July 31, 2020, in Columbia, Maryland, a pregnant woman was killed after multiple shots were fired into her home. The woman’s baby was initially in critical condition, but has now been reported to have passed away as of yesterday, August 6, 2020.
The 30-year-old woman, Rabiah Ahmad, was taken to a local trauma center, where she died from her injuries. Rabiah was 28 weeks pregnant with her baby girl, Ahja, who was delivered after the incident. As mentioned above, the baby unfortunately did not survive the shooting, although efforts were made to save her, with her spending several days in the NICU, but to no avail.
CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, has announced a $5,000 reward to information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator/s.
In a joint statement with CAIR, Ahmad’s family said:
“In the Name of Allah. Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer. We are asking — no, pleading — with the fine people of the Howard County community to assist us in finding the person(s) responsible for the murder of our beloved. Because of this senseless act, Rabiah’s little baby girl, Ahja is left to fight the battle of her little life. A little precious life who should still be in her Mommy’s womb right now, whole and healthy. This is a great and devastating blow to the entire Ahmad-Najiy-Dawson-Bailey families. This doesn’t make sense. Please help us find lil’ Rabiah’s killer. Thank you.”
On Eid al-Adha, police received news of shots fired. They arrived at the home and found that multiple shots had been fired into the home, with one bullet striking Rabiah, killing her and causing the premature birth of her daughter.
If you have information about the murder of Rabiah and baby Ahja, please come forward. Anyone can submit an anonymous tip to police at 410-313-STOP or HCPDCrimeTips@howardcountymd.gov.
At this time, no one has come forward about the incident. Police do not know if someone else in the home was the intended target, as Ahmad shared the home with roommates. The story is still developing, and police and CAIR are working together on the case.
If anyone has information, they are encouraged to come forward.
The Howard County Police Department was also initially offering a $5,000 reward to anyone with information about the incident. However, since the passing of baby Ahja, the police have doubled their reward to $10,000. Anyone can submit an anonymous tip to police at 410-313-STOP or HCPDCrimeTips@howardcountymd.gov.
Originally from Miami, Florida, Ahmad was a creative soul, who had a passion for the arts. She was a talented hairstylist, who worked at prestigious events such as last year’s Miami Art Week. Her clientele included well-known faces such as Fenty skin model Jazzelle Zanaughtti. Miami New Times wrote an in-depth and touching profile about Ahmad’s work and legacy you can read here.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un. May Allah reunite Rabiah and Ahja in Jannah, make things easy for their family, and bring their killer(s) to justice.