On September 10, 2018 Ibrahim Ali, 28, was charged with killing 13-year-old Marrisa Shen, whose body was found in July of 2017 in Burnaby’s Central Park in British Columbia.
According to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT), Ali arrived in Canada as a refugee and has lived in Burnaby for 17 months.
In an interview with Maclean’s Magazine on September 17, 2018, Canada’s prime minister Justin was asked to comment on the murder:
Paul Wells: I’m going to pass along a few questions that came from things readers. One is asking what you have to say about the the arrest in British Columbia of Ibrahim Ali who is a Syrian refugee following the murder of a teenage girl named Marrisa Shen?
Justin Trudeau: Obviously it’s a devastating news for her family, for her friends. It’s a terrible tragedy any time one is murdered it’s a, it’s a terrible thing. I trust our justice system. I trust our system to to go through its processes to both, apply consequences to this and to make sure that we’re, we’re thinking about how we continue to keep people safe.
Paul Wells: A lot of people say that, some people say that if it hadn’t been for the surge in Syrian refugees after the 2015 election, guys like this guy would not be here.
Justin Trudeau: I’m not one of those people who say that.
Maclean's readers wrote in to ask @JustinTrudeau about the arrest of Ibrahim Ali in the murder of 13-year-old Marrisa Shen. The Prime Minister responds: https://t.co/o7kNdAoTpN #MacleansLive pic.twitter.com/Jo9P5g3cpp
— Maclean's Magazine (@macleans) September 17, 2018