CALGARY – Mourners formed a line around a casket covered in flowers Saturday morning to say their final goodbyes to Abiem Kuol Akel Abiem.
People wept openly, hugging each other for support, still in disbelief.
“For my brother to leave so soon, leave us all so soon… it’s very, very painful. He was my first best friend in the whole world,” his sister Awien Abiem said.
The 23-year-old was shot in Forest Lawn during the early morning hours of Nov. 11. His family arrived at the scene shortly after.
“I literally lost my mind when that happened. I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know if my brother was dead or not,” Awien said.
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Abiem’s family moved from Egypt to Canada nearly 20 years ago to look for a better life.
Abiem had just moved out on his own five months before his death and was working at a restaurant downtown.
Calgary police have not released a motive but Abiem’s family believes he was taken at gun point to his cousin’s house in order to try and lure him out. Abiem ran inside the house, managed to close the door and that’s when the shooting happened.
Matiop Nyok Okich, 21, Akieg Bol, 20, and Benjamin El-Ajak Nyiker, 23, have all been charged with first-degree murder.
“It’s not only Abiem. It’s happened to so many kids. And we have been talking to the authorities and we need to sit down as a community in order to see how can we help these young kids,” Abiem’s uncle Thomas Jieldit said.
The three accused are scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
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