Friends of Winnipeg’s latest homicide victim are still trying to come to grips with the violent death of a young man remembered for his inspiring work with at-risk teenagers.
Twenty-year-old Yassin Abdu Ahmed died early Sunday morning, shot outside the Windsor Hotel along with two other men who are now recovering in hospital.
Those who knew him said Ahmed was a talented basketball player and youth worker who was in the wrong place at the wrong time when gunfire broke out at the hotel shortly before 3 a.m.
“He was a leader, he was going somewhere.. I can’t believe it was him,” friend Styles James Lathlin said, who knew Ahmed through the young man’s work mentoring kids.
“He was loved by everybody, he was a good kid — he had an old soul — he could relate to everybody.”
Ahmed worked at community centres across the city, including the Spence Neighbourhood Association, West Broadway Community Organization, and Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre.
He also took overnight shifts at at-risk group homes looking out for teens.
While police have said they think the shooting was gang-related, they told Global News Ahmed is not believed to have been in a gang himself.
His death has left Jasmine Brine, who worked with Ahmed at the Spence Neighbourhood Association, in shock.
She said the young people they worked with looked up to Ahmed.
“He was an amazing friend, whenever you needed him he would be there … he looked out for everybody,” Brine said.
“He stayed with the kids and watched them overnight, made sure they were safe, they didn’t leave or take off, he broke up fights.
“He was an inspiration to all the youth, to the Muslim community, his friends.”
Lathlin said the difference Ahmed made to Winnipeg’s youth can be seen on a GoFundMe page set up to help his family pay for his memorial service, where dozens of small donations have been made by the young people he worked with.
The fundraising effort hit its $5,000 goal Tuesday, a little more than 24 hours after it was set up.
“Its little kids, $5 here, $2 there, a dollar, all in two days,” Lathlin said.
“That goes to show what he did. He inspired these youth, he motivated them.”
No arrests have been made in Ahmed’s killing, and police ask anyone with information to call homicide detectives at 204-986-6508.
— With files from Brittany Greenslade