A Hampshire Street man pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree manslaughter in the Feb. 12 butcher-knife slaying of another man during an argument.

Ismail A. Mohomed, 24, a native of Somalia, accepted the plea just as State Supreme Court Justice Russell P. Buscaglia was about to begin selecting jurors for his trial on a second-degree murder charge in the slaying of Omar Abdi, 42, also a native of Somalia, who died of a single stab wound to the neck in the stairway of his apartment on Elmwood Avenue near Bird Avenue.

Mohomed, who surrendered three days after the slaying, never said why he and Abdi argued, prosecutor James F. Bargnesi said. Buscaglia told Mohomed, who will be sentenced Jan. 18, that he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Court officials said Abdi served a brief jail term for stabbing another man, also a native of Somalia , with a steak knife as the man slept in their flat.

Source: Buffalo News, Sept. 27, 2005

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