California Today: Unease in Sacramento After a Suspected ISIS Member’s Arrest

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/us/california-today-sacramento-isis-omar-ameen.html

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The Eastern Villa Apartments are two rows of slate-gray buildings in a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Sacramento. On Wednesday morning, residents awoke to their parking lot filling with black S.U.V.s and F.B.I. agents swarming toward the corner unit of the apartment complex. The heavily armed federal authorities, with help from the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office, arrested Omar Ameen, 45, an Iraqi citizen whom they accused of being a longtime member of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

“We were all looking and saying, ‘What is this?’” said Greg Hutson, 65, an Uber driver who was one of Mr. Ameen’s neighbors. “He didn’t do anything while he was here that hinted that he was part of a terrorist organization.”

Federal authorities accused Mr. Ameen of killing an Iraqi police officer in 2014 and then lying on his successful application for refugee status in the United States.

An Iraqi court in May issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Ameen. According to a summary of the case by the Justice Department, Mr. Ameen was in a convoy of ISIS vehicles that entered Rawah, Iraq, in 2014. Mr. Ameen is accused of traveling to the house of an Iraqi police officer in Rawah, firing at him and then firing again when the officer was on the ground, killing him.

The Eastern Villa Apartments are home to around nine families from Iraq and Syria, according to a Syrian man who lives next door to Mr. Ameen and who gave his name as Abu Alla.

The Arabic-speaking families mostly kept to themselves, said Deborah Talbott, 52, a caregiver who lives across the way. In the evenings the Syrians and Iraqis drank coffee, waving to passing neighbors, she said.

Mr. Ameen lived with an extended family in his second-floor apartment, neighbors said. On Thursday, the air conditioner was running and flip-flops were arrayed outside, but no one answered the door.

The Eastern Villa Apartments are a multiethnic mix, like other complexes across California. But the F.B.I. raid on Wednesday has now sown suspicion among neighbors, Ms. Talbott said.

“It’s a little unnerving what happened yesterday,” she said of Mr. Ameen’s arrest.

(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)

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You may have already seen or heard of “Crazy Rich Asians,” the romantic comedy about an Asian-American couple who travel to Singapore for a wedding and suddenly confront wealth and family issues.

The film, which opened Wednesday, was notable for being Hollywood’s first Asian-American work in 25 years by Asian filmmakers starring an all-Asian cast.

For many, it was a significant moment: “In light of the industry’s persistent oversight of the on-screen inclusion of underrepresented faces and voices, each battle won and every watershed moment are a cause for celebration,” The Los Angeles Times noted.

And for an LAist writer, who watched “Crazy Rich Asians” with a theater full of Asian-Americans in the San Gabriel Valley, it was an opportunity to see — and share — a story that reflected his identity and experiences.

Read our review here.

California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.