While America celebrated the long Memorial Day weekend, a Bangladeshi-American family lost its only bread earner to gun violence at Detroit, Michigan in US.
Joynul Islam, a taxi driver died after being shot and losing control of his car, leaving behind a wife and seven children, a few of them too young to comprehend the devastating loss.
Nayeem Choudhury, a family friend, told Bangla Tribune that Islam was shot over an argument about non-payment of the taxi fare by a passenger around 1.15am.
“The family is devastated,” said Mr Choudhury, adding, “I talked to the youngest child who told me—My father has gone to Allah.”
“He was a very nice man, hardworking and religious. I’m so heartbroken,” he says.
The community is in mourning at a time when Ramadan is about to end and Eid festivities are round the corner. More than 5,000 people gathered for his Janaza on Sunday but the burial will take place on Tuesday morning because of the holiday.
A young Bangladeshi-American, Taz Chowdhury, has launched a funding campaign on Facebook for Islam’s family and already raised nearly 50,000 dollars. The target now is to raise $100,000 for the grieving family.
He says the family can use all the help they can get.
“I believe we should raise as much as possible and set up a bank account for the family,” he says in a video message to the community.
The police do not seem to have made any progress in apprehending the killer so far.
“We are hoping to hear from the police by the middle of this week,” said Mr Nayeem Chowdhury.
The Bangladeshi community in and around Detroit has often raised concerns about rise in crime in their neighbourhoods. Metro Detroit has the third highest number of Bangladeshi-Americans in the United States.
Last October, they even organised a rally followed by a town hall meeting to apprise the authorities of their concerns. Many believe things haven’t changed and, in fact, it might have gone worse.