The funeral for a 16-year-old Hamilton boy killed over the weekend is getting underway at Hamilton Mountain Mosque.
Nabil Askafe, who had recently immigrated from Syria with his parents and little brother, was shot and killed at Jackson Square Mall Friday, Hamilton police said.
An email from the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board to parents Sunday said Askafe had been a Westdale Secondary School student.
On Monday morning, police told CBC News his alleged killer — a 14-year-old whose identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act — appeared in court and was charged with second-degree murder. The suspect turned himself in on Sunday, police said.
Ahead of the funeral on Monday, Abrar Mechmechia, who knows Askafe’s family, spoke to CBC Hamilton. “It’s a devastating loss for a newcomer family who escaped the war seeking safety in Canada,” Mechmechia said.
Mechmechia is a mental health and trauma counsellor, who works in and around Hamilton. She said she’s known Askafe’s family for about eight years through both the Syrian community and because his family members have volunteered with her programming.
“It’s definitely such a traumatic experience [the family is] going through,” she added.
In addition to the teen’s family, “the entire community is shaking,” Mechmechia said. “They’re not able to understand why such a [tragedy] could happen in the middle of the day in downtown Hamilton.”
Police have said Askafe and the teen who alleged killed him got into a physical altercation “just inside” the mall at King Street W. near a Himalayan restaurant. The 14-year-old brandished a gun, police said, and shot Askafe.
Young people in the Syrian community are “questioning their own safety,” Mechmechia said.
She said Askafe’s death is “too tragic” and highlights the responsibility all of Hamilton has to keep young people safe.
People cried quietly in the mosque Monday and the mood was somber as over a hundred people from the community gather to remember Askafe.
When dealing with a loss like this, Mechmechia said, newcomers face additional challenges, including being displaced from extended family and language barriers plus a lack of familiarity when dealing with police.
“We’re hoping to ensure that this is not only family loss, it’s a loss that the whole community is carrying and we all are feeling the weight of,” Mechmechia said. “And we’re hoping that this never ever happens again.”
