Twice the tragedy
1 COUSIN SHOT DEAD, 1 ARRESTED
If devastated Bronx dad Sekou Touray’s wish is granted, his son’s killer in a bizarre shooting accident will mourn with the rest of their family at the teen’s funeral.
Accused shooter Omar Turay was held Wednesday on $15,000 bail at his arraignment for the shocking slaying of his cousin Mohammed Touray, 18, as the two young men fiddled with a .25 caliber pistol inside the teen’s bedroom.
“It’s like two tragedies,” said Sekou Touray, 60, sitting in the living room where Omar desperately performed CPR as Mohammed’s parents watched their son die. “I lost my son and my nephew. We’ve lost two people in the family.”
The 21-year-old Turay was joined at the Bronx Criminal Court hearing by 11 of his brothers, along with his parents and several uncles and aunts. Prosecutors said the dying teen’s final words were directed at his distraught cousin: “You shot me.”
Defense attorney Peter Davis said he spoke with Sekou Touray, whose family wants their relative released in time to mourn the loss of his beloved friend and cousin at the funeral. The family patriarch doesn’t want his nephew, charged with manslaughter and weapon possession, to disappear along with his son.
“His own words to me were that Omar loved Mohammed, Mohammed loved Omar,” said Davis. “He understands this was just an accident. He does not want to see Omar in jail.”
Sekou Touray said the families of both shooter and victim spent most of Tuesday together after the killing, calling the death “a disaster for everybody.”
Family members recalled the two cousins were tight, and prosecutor Eric Hirsch said the pair were hanging out in Mohammed’s bedroom listening to music Tuesday afternoon when the teen accidentally fired a bullet.
Mohammed asked Turay to unload the gun, but cops said he instead only ejected one bullet from the chamber — unaware there was another still inside the weapon. The lethal second accidental shot followed as Turay tried to get comfortable on his cousin’s bed.
“Mohammed came out of the room grabbing his chest and he fell right here,” said Sekou. “He was saying ‘Daddy, daddy,’ and then he collapsed right in front of us.”
Medics rushed the teen to Lincoln Hospital but he could not be saved.
Mohammed was a natural athlete headed into his senior year of high school, with his eye on going to college to pursue a degree in pharmacy, according to his dad. The dead youth’s older brother Omar Touray, 22, remembered his brother as a stand-up guy with a bright future.
“He had a big heart,” said Omar Touray. “Everybody loved him. He would have your back in any situation … Mohammed was wise beyond his years. He was very talented at everything he did. Honestly, it hasn’t even hit me yet. I feel like I’m dreaming.”
The jailed suspect is a liberal arts student at Hostos Community College with a clean arrest record, according to his lawyer.
“This is a young man who by all means has led a completely law-abiding lifestyle,” said lawyer Davis. “He is going to have to live with this for the rest of his life.”
Turay’s stepfather Veemusa Fofa, 37, appeared overwrought when he answered the door at the suspect’s home.
“He’s a good kid,” insisted Fofa. “For the past two months, he hasn’t stepped out of the house. He just stepped out [Tuesday]. He said he wanted to get a haircut, and then he stopped by Mohammed’s house.”
Sekou Touray didn’t know how the cousins got their hands on the gun: “That’s the million-dollar question.” But the brokenhearted father refused to lay the blame for the shooting on his nephew.
“We are Muslim,” he explained. “Everything is predetermined — when you are born, when you’re going to die. It’s written, it cannot change. That’s the reality.”