by VDC staff

A man charged in connection with a 2022 Burlington homicide has accepted a plea agreement that will send him to prison for 14 years, officials confirmed Monday. A more detailed report will be published shortly.

As reported in 2022 by Vermont First reporter Mike Donoghue, Abdiaziz ‘Drill’ Abdihkadir, now 22, was originally charged with first-degree murder in the death of 21-year-old Hussein Mubarak, who was fatally shot in the head in the city’s Old North End on July 7, 2022. At the time of that incident, authorities said the shooting stemmed from a long-running personal dispute.

Under the terms of the plea deal, Abdihkadir pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and two counts of obstruction of justice. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to a 14-year sentence, which he will serve in prison.

Prosecutors had originally charged Abdihkadir with first-degree murder, reflecting the severity of the crime and the investigation that followed. The plea agreement brings a resolution to the case without taking it to a full trial.