Montana court documents detail high-speed chase and arrest of Saskatoon murder suspect

Murder suspect Afrah Ali's flight from Saskatoon homicide investigators ended with a bang last week in a ditch outside Whitefish, Mont.

A Canada-wide second-degree-murder warrant was issued for Ali in August 2020 after Logan Nayneecassum was fatally shot outside Aria Food and Spirits on Slimmon Road in Saskatoon. Ali, who also goes by Afrah Abdi, vanished after the shooting. 

Documents filed in district court in Great Falls, Mont., detail the dramatic pursuit and arrest of the 32 year old.

It begins on Jan. 23 at around  9 a.m. CST on the border near West Kootenai, according to an affidavit filed by U.S. Border Patrol agent Seth Justesen.

"Border Patrol Dispatch received trail camera activations notification indicating three subjects dressed in camouflage and dark clothing carrying black backpacks crossing the border from Canada into the United States," he wrote.

Half an hour later, another agent spotted a black Nissan Sentra leaving the area where the trio had crossed. The windows were fogged "but they were able to see multiple occupants."

Agents converged on the car, flashing their emergency lights to pull it over. It did, but when two officers approached on foot, the driver bolted.

The car headed south from Eureka, near the Alberta border, toward Whitefish. Justesen said officers radioed ahead the description of the car but backed off because of bad roads and the excessive speed.

"The Nissan Sentra continued at high rates of speed heading southeast on Highway 93 toward Whitefish, Montana. Flathead County Sheriffs Office (FCSO) and Montana Highway Patrol (MHP) were notified of the incoming pursuit," Justesen wrote.

"MHP and FCSO deployed a Vehicle Immobilization Device on the Nissan Sentra ... [which] ultimately came to a stop down a small embankment off the highway, approximately four miles [6.4 kilometres] from Whitefish, Montana. FCSO and MHP made contact with the four occupants and placed them under arrest."

A canine search of the car revealed pills, marijuana and electronic devices in the rear floorboards.

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The arrest documents describe Ali as a Somali national and legal permanent resident of the United States. 

The two other men who crossed the border with Ali are also facing charges. One is a Jamaican citizen facing charges of being in the U.S. after deportation, while the other is a U.S. citizen accused of transporting aliens.

A fourth man in the car has not been charged in federal court.

On Monday, Saskatoon police said they're working with American authorities to have Ali sent to Saskatoon to face the second-degree murder charge.