Mtanzania auwawa Marekani

POLISI wametambua mwili wa mwanafunzi wa Howard University aliyeuawa kwenye jaribio la uhalifu Alhamisi usiku. Omar Sykes, 22 (pichani), na mwanafunzi mwenzake walikuwa wanatembea maeneo ya 700 block of Fairmont Street NW kabla ya saa 5.30 usiku walipofuatwa na watu wawili. Polisi wanaamini kulikuwa na jaribio la uhalifu ila yalitokea mabishano kabla mmoja ya wale watu kutoa bastola na kumuua Sykes. Alifikia mauti kwenye hospitali ya maeneo ya jirani.

“Tunadhani ilikuwa jambo la ghafla na hatuna uhakika kama wanafunzi hao waliibiwa mali yoyote”alisema Kapteni Bob Alder wa kituo cha polisi DC 

alipohojiwa na News4.

Mwanafunzi mwingine alipigwa na kitako cha bastola na kujeruhiwa kichwani ingawa hana majeraha makubwa. 

“Wanafunzi wengi wamepatwa na hofu ya kutoka na kutembea usiku kwani hali hii inaogopesha sana,” alisema mwanafunzi mmoja alipohojiwa na Megan McGrath kutoka News4.

Maelezo kamili kuhusu watuhumiwa bado hayajapatikana. Kulikuwa na matukio mengi ya kujumuisha watu wakati wa tukio hivyo polisi wanatumaini kuwa haitawia vigumu kwa wahalifu hao kujulikana.

Sykes alipenda uandishi na mara ya mwisho aliandika makala kwenye mtandao unaoitwa Our Black Pages mnamo tarehe 11 Juni. Wasifa wake unaonesha kwamba alikuwa anasomea Marketing na Public Relations. Mkesha wa sala kwa ajili ya marehemu utafanyika shuleni kwao Jumamosi kuanzia saa 1 usiku.

Howard University imetoa maelezo yafuatayo kuhusiana na kifo cha Alhamisi:

“Tuna huzuni kubwa kufuatia kifo cha mmoja wa wanafunzi wetu kilichotokea nje ya shule. Mwanafunzi mwingine alijeruhiwa kwenye tukio hilo na anaendelea na matibabu…. Polisi wa Howard University wanashirikiana polisi wa mji ili kupeleleza tukio hili hatari. Tunawapa pole familia, shule na wale wote walioguswa na tukio hili kwa namna moja au nyingine. Huduma ya ushauri nasaha itapatikana masaa 24 kwa wanafunzi wote watakaohitaji msaada katika kipindi hiki kigumu.”

"Omar Sykes was a young man with big dreams and a million watt smile. The 22-year-old had been all over the world, but he came home to D.C., to his beloved Nationals, and he died just outside the gates of the school he hoped would launch him on a career in business and marketing.

"I am totally horrified. This young man had great promise," says a neighbor who did not want to be identified.

Outside the home his mother owns in D.C.'s Brightwood community, friends remember a pleasant, polite, disciplined and ambitious young man.

There has been an uptick in violent crimes around Howard in the last few months including armed robberies and assaults on and around the campus. Police are unsure at this point whether the two men wanted for killing Sykes have preyed on other students around the school.

"I pray they catch the guy," said the neighbor who was close to Syke's mother. Sherry Sykes is reportedly out of the country, working for the State Department in Africa."