THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 3
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015
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Family slain in small southeast Kentucky town
BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press
Yellow tape surrounds a home in southeast Kentucky on Sunday where a family was found slain. A couple and a young girl were reportedly found dead in the home on Saturday. Police are investigating to see if the case is connected to the shooting death of a young man in Baltimore on Saturday.
ADAM BEAM/ASSOCIATED PRESS
CORBIN, Ky. - Friends and relatives of a 16-year-old boy killed in a shootout with police in Maryland struggled to understand how the faithful churchgoer and high school ROTC student could end up as the suspect in the slaying of his parents and younger sister in Kentucky.
Jason Hendrix was suspected of killing his family execution-style last week before fleeing his small Southern town to the East Coast, authorities said Sunday.
Saturday's shootout led police to search the teen's home more than 500 miles away in Corbin, Ky. There, authorities found the bodies of Kevin and Sarah Hendrix and their daughter, Grace, about age 12. Corbin Police Chief David Campbell said.
Police said they believe the victims were gunned down Wednesday afternoon, Campbell said. Jason Hendrix then fled in his parent's car, armed with four weapons and a backpack full of ammunition, Campbell added.
"Right now all the evidence points toward him as being the shooter," the chief said.
Police didn't know why the suspect decided to flee to the East Coast. The family had no relatives in Baltimore, Campbell said.
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"We have no clue why he went up there," the chief said. Police also found a gas receipt showing that the teen had been in New Jersey on Thursday.
Baltimore County Police said the teenager shot and wounded a police officer Saturday after crashing the parent's green Honda Pilot into a silver sedan. At least six officers opened fire on Hendrix, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Maryland State Police said they initially sought to pull Hendrix over Saturday for a speeding violation.
Campbell said the teenager was angry at his parents for taking away his computer privileges days before the slayings. "The mother had talked to a co-worker and told her that he was really mad about that," the chief said.
The father, wearing a sport coat and tie from work, was shot twice in the head, Campbell said. He added that the mother was shot twice in the face and the girl twice in the head and once in the arm.
Jason Hendrix met up with friends at church that Wednesday evening and showed no signs of distress. "They said he was just like he usually is." Campbell said.
Family and friends in Corbin sought Sunday to understand the series of events, recalling a teenager known for his politeness.
Kevin and Sarah Hendrix were beekeepers who sold honey in the local farmers market, and Grace Hendrix was a middle school cheerleader. A spokesman for Union College in Barbourville confirmed Sarah Hendrix was a professor at the school.
Drew Mahan, the founding
pastor of Forward Community Church where the Hendrixes attended, said officers questioned him extensively about Jason on Saturday night after discovering the bodies. He described Jason Hendrix as a faithful member of his 3-year-old church, which holds services at a local movie theater.
Hendrix would arrive at the
theater every Sunday at 7 a.m. to help set up the church's equipment and was baptized at a service in December.
he's been an influence on my own kids. They love him."
"People want to ask questions. Why? How? I simply looked at folks today and said, 'I don't know," Mahan said after finishing the Sunday morning service." The guy has been here. He's been an influence on our students,
Michelle Payne, a 30-year-old mother who lived across the street from the Hendrixes, said they were "your classic small town family," adding she had not seen the family since Tuesday night when Kevin was walking the family's dog.
The police officer who was shot was treated at the
University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center and released Sunday, according to a statement.
Officials said the six Baltimore County Police officers who fired their weapons during Saturday's shootout will be placed on administrative status pending a review.
COURTESY OF THE ELGIN POLICE DEPARTMENT/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, 75, the longtime head of the Institute of Islamic Education in Elgin, III., was arrested Sunday and charged with sexually abusing a 23-year-old woman who worked at the school. Saleem is due to appear in Cook County bond court on Tuesday, Feb. 17 in Rolling Meadows, Ill.
Islamic school leader charged with sex abuse
MICHAEL TARM Associated Press
Dr. Mohammed Kaiseruddin, chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater America, speaks at a news conference as Jenan Mohajir, a founding board member of HEART Women and Girls, looks on Tuesday in Chicago. Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, the longtime head of the Institute of Islamic Education in Elgin, III, was arrested Sunday, Feb. 15 and is charged with sexually abusing a 23-year-old woman who worked at the school, authorities said Tuesday.
CHICAGO — The longtime head of a suburban Chicago Islamic school has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman who worked there, and a civil suit filed Tuesday accuses him of abusing that employee and three teenage students. The legal actions shed light on an issue that even many Muslims say is too often pushed into the shadows within their communities.
Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, 75 — who founded the Institute of Islamic Education and is regarded as a leading Islamic scholar, or imam, in the United States — is charged with felony criminal sexual abuse. Prosecutors said he abused the 23-year-old woman, an administrative assistant at the Elgin school, in a series of escalating incidents over months.
KICHIRO SATO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
"This place was ripe for abuse," Denny told a news conference.
The civil suit accuses Saleem of abusing that employee, as well as three female students at the school as far back in the 1980s. The lawyer in that case, Steven Denny, said Saleem took advantage of both the trust accorded to him as a religious leader and of the tendency of Muslims to remain silent on matters of sex and sexual abuse.
It took special courage, he added, for his clients to come forward within a culture that discourages even casual contact — never mind explicit sexual contact.
The suit says a fifth person was abused when he was 11 by a male staffer at the school, not Saleem. It accuses the school of failing to protect children, many of whom lived on campus. It asks for more than $1.5 million in compensation, saying the victims are psychologically scarred.
Defense attorney Thomas Glasgow said he talked to his client about the Elgin charges and that Saleem "categorically denies the allegations." He hadn't had a chance to speak to him about the lawsuit. No one answered the phone Tuesday at the school, which has students from grades six through 12 and is 25 miles northwest of Chicago.
Saleem, of Gilberts, was arrested Sunday, Elgin police said. Authorities started investigating after the woman contacted them in December.
During a Tuesday bond hearing, prosecutors alleged that a month after the woman started working at the school in 2012, Saleem started removing the religious veil from her face and came into her office to hug her. Over several months, prosecutors said, he would hug her and squeeze her buttocks and breasts over her clothes.
Last April, prosecutors say Saleem locked the door of the woman's office, lifted her dress, forced her to sit on top
of him, massaged her and held her down when she tried to get up. Prosecutors say they collected evidence.
The lawsuit says that when one female student told a teacher Saleem touched her inappropriately, she was told, "Saleem is an old man and old people do things like that — so just forget it"
Saleem's bond was set at $250,000 and he was ordered to have no contact with the accuser, her family or anyone under age 18. Glasgow said he expected Saleem to post bond later Tuesday. Saleem, who also had to surrender his passport, is due in court again March 10.
The chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater America, to which the school belongs, says he examined the facility's bylaws and found they granted Saleem almost absolute decision-making power. In light of Saleem's arrest, Mohammed Kaiseruddin said Islamic schools nationwide should rework their bylaws to allow greater oversight.
Nadiah Mohajir, director of HEART Women and Girls, which raises awareness about sexual abuse in the Muslim community, called Saleem's arrest "a wake-up call" that presented an opportunity to address a topic that's been taboo for too long.
At Denny's news conference, a statement from the 23-year-old woman called on Muslims to speak up about sexual abuse. She said, "I will no longer stay silent."
"The shame and stigma surrounding sexual abuse is even higher in Muslim communities, with its emphasis on purity and modesty," she said.
Kaiseruddin said the matter illustrated that Muslims were not immune to a problem that has plagued the Roman Catholic Church.
"We found out that Muslims are burdened by the same [issue] other faiths are burdened with," he said.
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