Inset: Abdikadir Gedi Shariiff (GoFundMe). Background: Alex Waggoner at his sentencing hearing for killing Shariiff (KOMO/YouTube).
A Washington state man will serve nearly two decades behind bars for murdering an Uber driver who almost hit him with a car and stopped to apologize.
Alex Waggoner, 23, was convicted Wednesday of second-degree murder in the death of 31-year-old Abdikadir Gedi Shariiff. Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Richard Okrent subsequently sentenced him to 19 years and seven months behind bars. Cops said Waggoner had been drinking the night of Jan. 3, 2024, in Edmonds, which is about 14 miles north of Seattle, and was walking to a liquor store to buy more booze when he crossed the street. Shariiff, who was working for Uber at the time, nearly hit Waggoner with his car.
When the driver pulled around to Waggoner and rolled down his window to apologize, the defendant took out a gun and shot the victim. A judge admonished Waggoner for acting in such a reckless manner.
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“Very few people in that situation would pull out their gun and empty 11 bullets into a man,” Okrent said, according to a courtroom report by local ABC affiliate KOMO.
Prosecutors reportedly noted that Shariiff made a “minor mistake” and simply wanted to own it and apologize.
“Not one of which is out of the ordinary or which puts anyone”s life at risk, except, apparently his own,” prosecutors reportedly wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “Mr. Shariiff did what we would hope any upstanding citizen would do in that situation which is attempt to apologize. And yet, his own desire to apologize is what led to his death.”
Waggoner’s attorney blamed his client’s actions, in part, on being “mesmerized” by watching YouTube videos about self-defense and the Second Amendment.
“These beliefs and culture that were so clearly perpetuated by countless YouTube videos put (Waggoner) on the path that would put him in the exact scenario that the online videos preach people need firearms to protect themselves from,” his attorney argued. “One would say it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
But the judge saw these excuses as nonsense.
“There are lots of videos on gun safety, lots of videos on protecting yourself. Not one video says take out your gun and shoot somebody in the dark when somebody is trying to apologize to you for a mistake,” Okrent reportedly said.
Waggoner apologized to the victim’s family, but they weren’t interested in hearing anything from him.
“January 3rd was a life-changing day we will never forget,” said Laila Hassan, the victim’s cousin, according to local Fox affiliate KCPQ. “One less person at our dinner table, one less person standing beside his brother at prayer. It might be one less person on this planet full of billions, but his absence is felt.”
