Four days after Nnamdi Ogba was gunned down in what Toronto police are calling a random attack, his mother says she has cried all the tears she can and now she wants justice for her eldest son.
“They took away my heart… Who do they think they are taking an innocent life? I hope… my face haunts them for the rest of their lives,” Margaret Nwosu said on Tuesday as she spoke about the two suspects police say they are searching for in connection to Ogba’s death.
The 26-year-old moved to Canada from Nigeria over a decade ago and called Brampton home.
“When you come from another country to Canada, you come here for a better life,” said Nwosu, who herself moved to the country 15 years ago.
In building that life, Ogba went to Seneca College and became an electrical engineer after graduation. The eldest of five boys, his family said he was “well respected” at home and in the community.
“He didn’t talk much, Nnamdi was quiet, but he had heart. If you needed something, he was there,” his stepfather, Sylva Okezie, told Global News.
In his spare time, his family said Ogba could be found with his fiancée, who he planned to marry this year, or on the field playing soccer.
On Friday, he stopped by Sccarlettwood Court in Etobicoke to visit a teammate. Just after 11 p.m., Ogba was approached from behind by two men and shot in the back.
On Monday, Toronto police told reporters this was a random attack.
“Mr. Ogba did nothing to bring this on himself,” said homicide detective Jason Shankaran, after releasing surveillance video of two young men wanted in connection with the shooting.
Investigators said the men fired multiple rounds escaping in an SUV waiting for them nearby.
This isn’t the first time a man has been shot and killed in the Scarlettwood Court area.
On Jan. 9, Shaquille Wallace was also found in the same area shot multiple times. Paramedics tried to save the 22-year-old but he later died. Police said Wallace’s case was also a random attack.
Given the proximity and similarity of the two alleged killings, police told Global News they are looking into potential links between the two cases.
Meanwhile, Ogba’s family want to see the suspects come forward, on their own.
“Turn yourself in! Turn yourself in! You have to turn yourself in! How can you live with what you have done — destroying a family!” Nwosu yelled while also pleading with witnesses to come forward.
“Someone knows who these young men are.”
They said they hope his story will lead to both an arrest and a change.
“People are being shot at, being targeted, they are dying… I would think police and their resources would be focused there,” Okezie said, referring to Scarlettwood Court.
“I don’t even know how to go on, how to cope,” Nwosu added.
“Our lives will never be the same.”