Flint Councilman Leon El-Alamin is pushing back on an online video from his 2024 election opponent, providing The Midwesterner with documentation that debunks allegations of criminal activity.
A door camera video posted to the Facebook page Elect Carol McIntosh 1st Ward Council last week purported to show El-Alamin at a Flint residence “with a ‘DRACO ASSAULT GUN’” to evict a tenant without the proper paperwork while terrifying a child at the home.
The post alleged El-Alamin “once again made a conscious choice to take the law into his own hands, armed with a dangerous gun” during the September 2022 incident.
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El-Alamin told The Midwesterner last week the video was “a bunch of bull crap,” and followed up with documentation to prove that’s the case, including a court approved notice to recover possession of the property, a personal protection order against the tenant, his concealed carry license, pistol sales record and a report detailing a fire at the residence in September 2022.
“She had a boyfriend living there illegally dealing drugs,” El-Alamin said, referring to the tenant, Nakeya Wakes.
El-Alamin said he evicted the tenant legally, and she left, but the boyfriend did not.
“I knew the boyfriend was a drug dealer and I had recently seen him … pop up at the house,” he said. “I saw him go in with a gun … so I took precautions.”
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“That was the whole purpose of grabbing my legally registered gun,” El-Alamin said.
No one was at the residence when El-Alamin and a worker were recorded in the video changing the locks, he said.
“In the video, she was already out of the house,” El-Alamin said.
Former Flint Community Schools Board of Education member Carol McIntosh faces off against El-Alamin on Nov. 5 for a partial term representing the city’s 1st Ward that runs through 2025.
In February, El-Alamin was appointed to the city council following the death of councilman Eric mays, and he’s touted endorsements from high-level Democrats including Rep. Elissa Slotkin in his bid to retain the seat.
El-Alamin founded the nonprofit MADE Institute in 2015 to help felons gain employment, housing and other services after serving part of a 12-20 year sentence for drugs and weapons charges, a “drug dealer to community leader” evolution that’s been highlighted in the media.
“In order to improve our community, we have to start speaking out and having the courage to expose those individuals who are causing the very harm that has kept Flint from moving forward,” read the controversial Facebook post, which has garnered more than 4,800 views. “How can we expect Leon El Alamin to fix the very problem that he is a part of…….?”
The one minute, 37-second door camera video shows a worker in a yellow hoodie with the name “Derek” embroidered on it using a drill in the doorway of a residence, before El-Alamin approaches from behind carrying what appears to be a semi-automatic firearm with an extended clip in his right hand.
El-Alamin, dressed in a black sweatshirt and gray sweatpants, lingers in the doorway for about a minute with the weapon in hand as he appears to be talking with someone, though the video does not contain audio.
The video concludes with the two men standing on the porch at the front door as the worker changes the locks.
Before El-Alamin’s time on the city council, he was appointed by Mayor Sheldon Neeley to an American Rescue Plan Act Community Advisory Committee to controlled $94 million in federal COVID funding.
“Since I came home in 2010, I have transformed my life,” El-Alamin said during an interview ahead of his council appointment, according to Flint Beat. “I’m feeling super excited. I’m ready to continue the work we’ve already been doing in the ward, me and my team, expanding that, unifying the community as much as I can.”
El-Alamin provided The Midwesterner with an insurance claim for a fire at the residence involved in the video in September 2022 that documents “heavy fire damage.”
“Crews searched the home and found the fire in the basement, crews used an attack line to put the fire out. A PPV fan was then used to clear the home of smoke the basement took heavy fire damage,” according to the report. “There was trash through the whole home. Dispatch informed FFD to be aware of bedbugs in the home.”