Police have made an arrest connected to the September murder of 16-year-old Ja’niya Birdsong and the attempted homicide of a 17-year-old girl.
Investigators took Mohamed Sowa into custody Thursday morning just before 7:30. He faces criminal homicide and attempted criminal homicide charges linked to shooting that left the Hillsboro High School student dead.
Just before 8 p.m. on September 26, South Precinct officers responded to a shooting on Eckhart Drive in Nashville, Tennessee. Once on the scene, officers found Birdsong in the driveway with a gunshot wound to the head. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators discovered a second victim, a 17-year-old girl, inside the home with gunshot wounds to both of her legs. She was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for treatment.
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She told police that her ex-boyfriend, Mohamed Sowa, called her and wanted to talk. She says the conversation turned into an argument, with Sowa making threats to come to the home with other people. According to police, she told Sowa if he wanted to talk, to come to the house alone.
From there, she says Sowa came to the house in a damaged silver car without a license plate. Sowa started arguing with Birdsong before he pulled out a gun and fired a shot into the air, police say.
Then, the second victim says someone approached them from down the street before a group came out from the other end of the street while the argument continued. She remembered that the group got into the car with Sowa, who was wearing all white at the time.
According to investigators, one of the passengers fired a gunshot before getting into the car and as it drove away, the passenger started shooting at Birdsong and the second victim.
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A criminal affidavit says, “Surveillance footage observed from across the street is consistent” with the second victim’s account of what happened.
Police later tracked down more surveillance footage from Cayce Homes, showing that just before the shooting, someone matching Sowa’s description leaving an apartment on S. 6th St. with a gun in his hand and a group of people before they got into a light blue car that police say appears to be silver at night with similar damage.
In the video, the car pulled away at the same time the second victim’s cell phone shows a text message from Sowa, stating, “I’m coming can we talk.”
Following the shooting, additional surveillance reportedly shows the car enter Tony Sudekum Apartments to drop someone off before returning to Cayce Homes. That’s where the rest of the group exits the car. Sowa then parked the car and jumped out before walking to a red car, placing something in the trunk and driving off. Metro Police say Sowa has a red car registered in his name.
Sowa is now being held on a $500,000 bond.
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