Manager of Meskerem Restaurant in DC shot, wounded

ABC 7 News

A popular restaurant manager shot by a longtime friend Sunday night says he has no idea what provoked the attack.

According to witnesses, the gunman entered Meskerem Ethiopian restaurant as usual and greeted the manager, Muhaba Mohamed, with a hug. Everything seemed normal between the longtime friends, according to people who knew them.

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“I know both of them, they grow up together, they’re like one family,” said Rezene Sium, a friend of Mohamed’s.

Sium said he was outside at the time of the shooting, but witnesses told him there was no provocation. At some point, the gunman drew the pistol and fired one shot in Mohamed’s neck. After shooting Mohamed, the man fired two shots in the air and then shot himself in the head, police and witnesses said.

Several people at the bar attempted to stop the gunman, but the efforts were unsuccessful, according to Graham.

Sium says he’s talked to the wounded restaurant manager who is recovering at Howard University Hospital. Sium said he talked to Mohamed, who has no idea why his friend shot him.

D.C. police say they have no plans to close the restaurant or suspend its liquor license because it has no history of violence.