Coon Rapids man accused of killing stepdaughter in Michigan

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by Peter Bodley
Managing Editor

A Coon Rapids man has been accused of killing his stepdaughter in Michigan Saturday.

Rahim Alfetlawi, 45, was arraigned in court Monday in Macomb County on a first-degree murder charge. He was being held without bail and is due back in court May 12.

He allegedly shot and killed Jessica Mokdad, 20, at her grandmother’s home in Warren, Mich., a suburban of Detroit, Mich.

A search of Coon Rapids Herald files shows that Mokdad graduated from Coon Rapids High School in 2009.

Alfetlawi allegedly was angry at Mokdad because she had moved to Michigan and was not following Muslim customs.

According to media reports on the Internet, Alfetlawi had left his Coon Rapids home in the predawn hours of Saturday to drive to Grand Blanc, Mich., to confront Mokdad’s father.

But neither Mokdad, who was primarily living in Grand Blanc with her father, nor her dad were there.

Alfetlawi then drove to Warren, where Mokdad had been spending time at her grandmother’s home and allegedly met his stepdaughter there.

The grandmother was not home at the time and when she returned, she found Mokdad lying on a bedroom floor with a gunshot wound to the head, according to police reports.

Alfetlawi, meantime, had gone to the nearby Center Line Public Safety Department and stated he had shot someone.

After questioning Alfetlawi about the location of the shooting, Warren Police officers went to the grandmother’s home where they were met by her and found Mokdad’s body.

Alfetlawi, who reports state had known Mokdad since she was seven years old, allegedly stated that the gun discharged accidentally when he pulled it out.

State court records show that Alfetlawi has two traffic violations against his name in Minnesota.

According to Capt. Brad Wise, Coon Rapids Police department, the last contact that police had with Alfetlawi was in February 2010. At that time, he was living at the Pondale Apartment complex, Wise said.

Those contacts involved low level civil disputes where Alfetlawi worked and with his landlord, he said.

Peter Bodley is at peter.bodley@ecm-inc.com