A former Calgary cab driver has been arrested for beheading his four children

• BEHEADING MURDERS OF KIDS HORRIFY CALGARY'S SOMALI COMMUNITY
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CALGARY — The Somali community in Calgary is reeling upon hearing the news that a former city cab driver has been arrested for beheading his four children.

“That’s unheard of,” said Mohamed Jama, president of the Somali Canadian Society of Calgary.

“The community is very shocked, very shocked,” he said.

“I don’t know whether the guy is insane and we don’t know what’s behind the story.”

A Mogadishu-based journalist for All Voices, an online news website, reports that Omar Shire Hussein, 60, beheaded his four children.

The kids, ranging in age between 11 and 6, were reportedly killed just outside the city of Beledweyne, in the Hiirran province in central Somalia.

The reason for beheading the kids is not known and it’s unclear whether Hassan was mentally unstable.

The kids’ mother, Khadro Xuseen, told the state run media that she knew Hussein to be in good health and that he had a good personality.

The mother identified her children as Sakariye, Yonis, Yaxye and Idiris.

The parents are no longer married and Xussen lives in Mogadishu, while the incident occurred in an area 330 km. north of the Somali capital.

Jama said the story is very sad and tragic.

“It’s unheard of among the Somali community, taking life, especially of loved ones and children.”

Jama said he’s been asking around the community to find out about Hussein, but no one among the cab drivers he knows have been able to identify the man.

“It’s very sad that the man is from Calgary but we need to find and confirm his identity.”

The identity of the man remains in question as major cab companies in Calgary have all said their records don't show anyone by that name as a past employee.

Mudhir Mohamed, former president of SCSC, has been trying to track information about the man, but he's yet to find anyone who may know Hussein.

Since the story broke Tuesday night, Mohamed said some of his Somali friends have been searching for anyone who may know the former city cab driver.

"It was shocking to hear a story like this," he said.

Mohamed said people he has spoken with couldn't come up with an explanation why a father would kill four children.

Beatrice Fenelon, a spokeswoman for the foreign affairs department, said in an e-mail that Canadian officials are "aware of reports of a possible consular case in Somalia.

"However, consular officials have not received a request for assistance," she said.

The RCMP can neither confirm nor deny whether they have been asked to help in the investigation.