*Heart-wrenching as it has been when I heard about the senseless and needless killing of Oluwadurotimi “Timi” Joseph Oyebola, a 16-year-old who was shot dead on a Brooklyn basketball court last 21st September, New York, sent shock waves through the neighbourhood of Brownsville.
There were calls for justice, and it was also shocking to find out that the shooter is 14-year old Aaron Nathaniel, suspected of being behind the firing of two shots in the basketball court at Chester Playground, where Timi was playing his favourite sport, striking Timi in the head. Timi was an innocent bystander and was not the shooter’s target.
Timi was very active in church amongst the youths and was very involved in youth programs. He planned that after school he would while away time playing basketball with his friends at the court, before going to the Youth Service at church, as he was nearer church than home.
Timi was a junior at Brooklyn Ascend Charter School, where he was a well-liked academic standout and a point guard on the basketball team. He had moved to New York City from Lagos, Nigeria, in 2013. Aaron Nathaniel the young suspect who went into hiding was identified as the gunman through security cameras. He has been arrested and will be charged as an adult, for murder and criminal possession of a firearm. Timi was laid to rest at Canarsie Cemetery, Brooklyn.
TAYO Fatunla is an award-winning Nigerian Comic Artist, Editorial Cartoonist, Writer and Illustrator. He is a graduate of the prestigious Kubert School, in New Jersey, US. He is recipient of the 2018 ECBACC Pioneer Lifetime Achievement Award for his illustrated OUR ROOTS creation and series – Famous people in Black History – www.tayofatunla.com
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