Abdul Sharifu: Congolese man, 26, dies in Buffalo Blizzard while getting supplies for those in need
BUFFALO, NEW YORK: Dozens of people have died after a "once in a lifetime" snowstorm made temperatures plummet and left the city of Buffalo paralyzed with heavy snowfall. The aftermath of the lethal blizzard has turned the city into a warzone, with looters attacking supply stores. A total of 34 weather-related fatalities have been reported in Buffalo since the Christmas weekend. Among those victims is 26-year-old Abdul Sharifu, who died after leaving his home to buy groceries for others.
Sharifu was found dead outside in the 14212 ZIP code at 11.30 pm on Saturday, December 24. Rescue workers found him face down in the snow and brought him to the Oshei Women and Children's Hospital, where his cousin Ali, identified him on Monday morning, December 26. “We don’t know what happened to him. We know that he told his wife he was going to buy milk,” Mohammed Omar, Sharifu's younger brother, told Buffalo News.
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Erie County spokesman, Enock Rushikana, said that Sharifu's wife, Gloria, who is pregnant with his first kid and due to give birth in about a week, tried to stop him when he left their house on Buffalo's East Side around noon Saturday in a blizzard to get milk and other supplies. Rushikana said that Sharifu was known for always helping others and perhaps was helping someone in need. "It was in his nature to help," said Rushikana, adding, "No matter what the situation. He was a good young man, a reliable young man for everyone in the community,"
Ali, who shared a house with Sharifu, said he "was so excited to become a father" and was working to buy a home for his growing family. The grief-stricken family found Sharifu's car in the middle of the road on Utica Street, near Main Street on Sunday, December 25. Ali reportedly said, "They told me some people found him in the street and he was already dead."
The concerned family even shared Sharifu’s photo on Facebook on Sunday, after he didn’t respond to texts and calls from his wife. Omar said that a few hours after they posted the picture, someone called him to inform him that they had seen Sharifu but the person was not sure.
Omar and Sharifu are Congolese refugees, who relocated to the US after years of living in a refugee camp in Burundi. Sharifu migrated around five years ago, and Omar, 21, arrived in 2019. They spent some of their childhood in a Burundi refugee camp and moved to Canada in 2002 after their parents were killed in the war. Their relatives revealed that Sharifu was working at a manufacturing company in Cheektowaga before his tragic death.
Omar said that he and his brother had recently chatted about living closer to each other. “Last month, I told him to come to Lansing. He said, ‘No, I can’t leave Buffalo,'" said a tearful Omar, adding, “Then he tried to tell me to move there, so then I told him I would think about it to move there to be close to him.”