Background: Surveillance video reportedly shows Salman Haji inside a Costco in Washington state before the fatal shooting of 67-year-old Yuam Ming (KOMO/U.S. Attorney’s Office). Inset Left: Yuam Ming’s vehicle after the fatal shooting at a Tukwila, Washington Costco last year (KING/YouTube). Inset Right: Salman Haji is seen at a supermarket less than an hour before allegedly shooting Yuam Ming at Costco, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office (DOJ).
The FBI has taken into custody a 20-year-old man deported from Kenya, accused of fatally shooting a woman in a Costco parking lot in Washington state last year, as per the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Federal prosecutors informed Law & Crime on Tuesday that Salman Haji, who was 19 during the January 2024 incident, was captured and extradited from East Africa after a grand jury indicted him last year on charges of murder and attempted robbery in connection with Yuam Ming’s death in Tukwila.
The 67-year-old was loading groceries into her car with her sister when Haji and another suspect, Ilyiss Abdi, 20, set upon them in an alleged robbery attack over a purse, according to DOJ officials.
Surveillance footage released by prosecutors and posted online by local ABC affiliate KOMO allegedly shows Haji and Abdi inside a grocery store in Normandy Park around 40 minutes before heading to the Costco in Tukwila where Ming and her sister were targeted. They were also allegedly caught on camera attacking the pair and shooting Ming as she tried helping her sister during a struggle over the woman’s purse, the DOJ reports.
Prosecutors say Haji and Abdi allegedly drove up on the sisters in a stolen Porsche Cayenne, which they swiped earlier in the day from another local woman.
According to the indictment and police reports, Haji stole the vehicle at gunpoint from the victim as she was driving on Queen Anne Hill. Haji was following the woman and “rear-ended her to cause her to pull over,” per the DOJ.
“While attempting to retrieve insurance information from the glove box, Haji held a gun to the victim and demanded the keys to the vehicle and money,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release. “Haji then drove off in the vehicle.”
Prosecutors say Haji fled to Kenya sometime after the Costco shooting. He was indicted in June 2024 and charged with murder and attempted robbery.
“Mr. Haji was deported from Kenya and taken into custody by the FBI,” said DOJ Public Affairs Officer Emily Langlie in a statement to Law&Crime on Tuesday.
“This defendant needs to be held accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman in a statement last year after Haji was indicted.
Haji’s location and incarceration status was unclear Tuesday morning.
