US judge ordered suspected Edmonton attacker deported in 2011

The Somali man accused of stabbing a police officer and running over four pedestrians in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on Saturday was ordered to be deported by U.S. authorities before he sought asylum in Canada, according to The Wall Street Journal.

A U.S. judge ordered Abdulahi Hassan Sharif to be deported to Somalia in 2011 after being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the newspaper reported.

ICE said in a statement reported by the Journal that Sharif waved his right to appeal and was later released, however he did not report to ICE on a scheduled date in 2012. 

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U.S. immigration authorities were unable to track Sharif down, and Canadian authorities say he crossed the border in 2012 and was given refugee status by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that authorities were looking into what happened when Sharif arrived in Canada roughly five years ago. 

“We’ll reflect on whether we need to do things differently in the future than the way they were done in 2012,” the Canadian leader said. 

A spokesman for the country’s Public Safety Minister said Canadian authorities did not come across any red flags in Sharif’s background when he first came to the country. 

ICE said that he did not have a known criminal history when he was in the U.S. 

The development comes days after Sharif allegedly stabbed a police officer and ran over four people on a police chase in the Canadian city in what authorities are calling a terror attack. Police say an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria flag was found in one of the vehicles Sharif was driving. 

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said U.S. authorities were in touch with their Canadian counterparts to offer assistance in the investigation.