Momodou Bayo from The Gambia is demanding justice after his 21-year-old son was killed in New York city.
Momodou was at work when he got a call on Thursday about 4:30pm that his son Sydi, 21, had been shot. He rushed to the hospital and found he had died.
Sydi’s mother, Sai Kuyateh, said he was at a friend’s house when he was shot in the chest. It was still not clear what led to the shooting.
On Friday morning, police said they arrested the friend, Cheikh Diarra, also 21, and charged him with murder, manslaughter and illegal weapons possession.
Cheikh’s father said he was sleeping and didn’t hear the shot and only heard someone yelling that Sydi had fallen on the floor and he tried to help him to breathe until an ambulance took him away.
“This is how I learned that this lunatic killed my son,” Momodou Bayo said while explaining that his son worked as a delivery person for Uber Eats and was the oldest of their six children.
“I’m feeling so horrible, so traumatised. I could not sleep all night,” the grieving father said. “He is my best friend. He is very nice. Really down to earth. And he’s a very good Muslim. All I am asking is that justice is served.”
