November 23, 2019
FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (WABC) — Police believe a landlord-tenant dispute may have sparked an assault that left a man in Brooklyn unconscious.
Muthana Abdulla has weeks of recovery with dozens of staples in his head and numerous large bruises on his body after an attack last week.
Police say the attackers used baseball bats and a metal pipe to brutally beat Abdulla just down the sidewalk from his grocery store on Nostrand Ave. – a shop he has owned with his brother for two decades after their move from Yemen.
“They kept on beating my head – they hit me multiple times, I have cracks in my head, the blood was all over,” said Abdulla.
Investigators are now searching for Saeed Ali, 58, and Faud Quaid, 45. A possible motive for the attack is a landlord-tenant dispute.
Abdulla says after a lengthy court battle, he was evicted but then Ali wanted him to leave the store items that Abdulla purchased, behind.
“If you rent from someone, he’s not allowed to keep your refrigeration, what you have spent in the store just because he decides to evict you,” Abdulla added.
When Abdullah and his brother refused Ali’s demands, he says Ali and his relatives took matters into their own hands by using violence.
The store is now closed, and Abdulla is in the process of moving to a new location. He says he wants the suspects caught and brought to justice.