News of Ibrahim Abukar’s death left friends and family in disbelief
Friends of a York student who was killed in an alleged home home invasion on December 7 say he was brilliant, warm-hearted, and humble.
Ibrahim Abukar, 22, who would have graduated in April from the strategic management program at the Schulich School of Business, was fatally shot after he and two other men allegedly broke into a Mississauga home on Corkstone Glade and a struggle ensued with the homeowner, Peel Regional police say.
Lucy Kaite Nyarwai , a fourth-year biological science and health and society student, who met Ibrahim on her second day in Canada after moving from Kenya, remembers him as someone who always went out of his way to help people.
Abukar had helped Nyarwai find her residence that day, and gave her a few helpful tips, after which they remained friends.
Nyarwai says she thought Abukar would make a name for himself as an innovative entrepreneur.
“Not as a young man with a bright future ahead of him cut short by death at the prime of his life,” she says, adding, “His good deeds will remain in our hearts, his smile and his presence will keep us going.”
Britta Leonard Masaua, a final-year financial business and economics student, met Abukar two years ago at an event organized by the African Students Association @ York.
“I never accepted the way he left this world,” says Masaua.
She will remember Abukar as a positive person who always had something to say.
“Whenever I ran into him, I knew I had to give him at least 30 minutes to one hour of my time because we would talk on and on,” she says. ”Ibrahim had the biggest and brightest smile even on the dullest of days.”
Amina Gurhan, final-year international development studies student and president of the Somali Students’ Association at York, shares similar memories of Abukar.
“For the first couple months I knew him, he’d always be dressed in business attire – suit and tie – which suited his demeanour. He was the epitome of what we call a gentleman,” she says.
Gurhan says Abukar was the first person who came to mind when she was trying to revive the club in September.
“I knew how much respect he had among his peers and how much of a role model he was for the young and old in the community,” she says.
Sadia Farah, a human rights and equity studies student, met Abukar on a trip to Wasaga beach organized by the African Students’ Association.
“He was a sweet soul,” she says, recalling their walks on the beach, playful jokes in the library, high-fiving each other in the hallway. “He was an extraordinarily kind person, and I will miss his cheeky laugh the most.”
She, like the others, was shocked by the news of his death. “He was never the type to go to random places at night with people he doesn’t know,” she says.
Investigators from the Peel Region Homicide and Missing Persons Bureau continue to investigate this incident.
By Tamara Khandaker, Copy Editor
