Slain Brock student remembered at vigil
Amal Alzurufi said she has “endless” memories of her son.
“He had a beautiful soul and smile that would light up any room,” she said. “His smile was contagious. If he was smiling, you were smiling.”
She described her 19-year-old son Yosif Al-Hasnawi as a “kindhearted” and “brave” young man.
“His encouraging bravery showed through his actions,” she said.
It was that bravery that inspired him to step in to help an older man that was being harassed near the Al-Moustafa Islamic Centre on Dec. 2. The 19-year-old Brock University student from Hamilton was shot and killed while attempting to intervene in the confrontation.
“He had a beautiful life ahead of him that was just taken away like this,” Al-Hasnawi’s grief-striken mother told a gathering of about 150 faculty, students and members of the community during a vigil at Brock University, Friday afternoon.
“To my Yosif, we will always cherish the good memories and I will always love you and think of you,” Alzurufi said, struggling with emotion as her younger sons Ahmed and Mahdi Al-Hasnawi stood at her side.
In addition to her overwhelming loss, the tragedy has also left Alzurufi feeling frustrated and angered.
“He loved his sisters, his brothers, and I miss him so much,” she told reporters following the vigil. “It’s tragic what happened and I want justice for him.”
While Alzurufi said she was pleased that two suspects, Dale Burningsky King, 19, and James Matheson, 20, had been arrested by Hamilton police, she said she remains “very disappointed” with the response of paramedics that have been criticized for the length of time it took to bring her son to hospital.
“It’s shocking. It should not happen, especially here in Canada. It shouldn’t happen,” she said, adding she has asked for a thorough investigation of the emergency response.
Hamilton paramedics, she added, are cooperating with her.
“I just want justice for my son. He had a whole bright life in front of him, and it was taken,” she said.
Brock’s Student Justice Centre supervisor Zanab Jafry said the tragic circumstances of Al-Hasnawi’s death exemplify his courageous and selfless personality.
“We remember you today, we will remember you tomorrow and we will remember you always,” she told the gathering.
Brock University Students’ Union president Faisal Hejazi said the “heartbreaking tragedy” has weighed heavily on him since he first learned about the death of the first-year student of Brock’s medical sciences program, who hoped to one day become a doctor.
“He had dreams. He had goals just like any other young, ambitious and intelligent and driven 19-year-old would have,” Hejazi said.
“This tragedy is sickening and frustrating in multiple ways. Not many have the bravery that Yosif demonstrated that day. He exemplified selflessness and did not hesitate to take action when he saw the mistreatment taking place.”
Brock president Gervan Fearon said Al-Hasnawi “has left us all with a deeper understanding of the great qualities we should all strive towards attaining.”
“Indeed, he has set the bar high,” Fearon added.
He said the university has established a scholarship in Al-Hasnawi’s memory, but “each of us will find our own way of honouring him” and “thanking him for the inspiration that he has left us all.”
University professor Ana Sanchez said she will choose to remember the student as “a brave soul,” and a humanitarian with “aspirations to help others, and he died doing so.”
While grieving Al-Hasnawi’s loss, university associate chaplain Hosam Helal said those who knew him should also rejoice that, “that person left the world with a beautiful legacy and in a beautiful way.”
“I would want to pass in a way that would remind others to be kind,” he said. “I would love for my passing to have some impact on the people that I’ve left behind.”