In 2013, the Centre for Disease control published that the number of deaths caused by firearms in the United States was 32,351. Ten persons out of 100,000 were being smoked by gun violence in most inner cities and urban territories of America. The CDC is located in Atlanta. Atlanta is the ninth largest metropolitan area in United States with population exceeding five million. It’s the crème de la soul of Southern United States, established in 1837. Atlanta is the capital of Georgia State. Continue..
It is one of the most enchanting and diversified Southern cities, very appealing with comfort, warmth and opportunities, a city that despite its grandiose bubbles, still struggles with diversity. Yet, it welcomes the world to its life on the metropolis, hence, a destination for immigrants seeking love, happiness and in pursuit of life and liberty.
Late Afolabi Andrew Odifa relocated from Raleigh, North Carolina to Atlanta, in search of southern comfort, in January. He died last week from a gunshot to the head three miles from his apartment. Eight years ago, he left Lagos, Nigeria in search of the American dream of great life and happiness. He attended Ibadan Polytechnic and after graduation, returned to Lagos seeking employment. Lagos was hopeless. Life was extremely frustrating for a young graduate. Afolabi would hustle from sun up to sundown seeking employment and anything legal to make ends meet. His best hustles were not enough. He was determined to provide for his new wife, Oluwatoyin Odifa, a neighbourhood girl he met along the alleys of their neighbourhood and fell in love with.
Oluwatoyin, sat on her couch inside their apartment , rocking their nine-month-old son on her laps, tears stream from her eyes as she remembered how her late husband met her. “We were always hanging out together. I liked him the first time he approached me in our neighbourhood. That quickly developed into a serious relationship. We became inseparable, always staying together, especially when he returned from his daily hustles in the evenings, he would come over our place and stayed with me till late evenings. We shared a dream and planned our future together. We would sit by the pavement in our yard and wished upon the stars. We prayed, planned and wished to sail into a better world, in each other’s arms”.
That prayer to sail on to best places in life was answered in 2008 when Afolabi moved to the United States, promising his wife that he would return for her after he settled in the land where dreams came through and opportunities were plenty. Afolabi went through the challenges of new life in an organised society. He engaged in any available jobs, determined to work harder to fulfill his promise to his new wife he left back in Lagos .
February 2013, Afolabi travelled to Nigeria to visit his wife and other members of his family. He had been granted legal authorisation. “It was magical to see my husband home then. I was very happy to have him in my arms again. I missed him.” The visit resulted in pregnancy for Oluwatoyin: at last, she was going to be a mother: “Every woman desired that moment when the one you love so dearly put you in that special place of a treasured lifetime”.
The Odifas expected their first child in October, but because of pregnancy complications, the baby delayed arrival for few weeks. Afolabi came from US for the birth of his first child. The baby was born on November 19, 2013. “ He was so happy to be a father. He said he would not leave us behind that we would all return with him to United States.”
Six weeks after the birth of their son, Afolabi travelled to his Atlanta base with his new family, in January 2014. He initially got a job as a factory worker in one of Atlanta’s processing food factories: “I became a house wife nursing our new born baby while he worked hard to provide for us. I didn’t know I would only have him for seven months.”
In June, Afolabi quit his factory job to become a taxi cab driver in the city of Atlanta. On August 16, while waiting for his fare inside an apartment complex, Afolabi was fatally shot by a 23-year-old man. The man allegedly stole his credit card and fled.
Oluwatoyin remembered the last hours before he left their apartment the night of his death.” He was home most of the day. He had gone out earlier and returned sometimes after 6p.m, complaining of headache. He said he wanted to lie down for few hours. About 10.37 p.m his cell phone rang. He told me that he just got a fare and he would do the fare and returned home to be with us.” I won’t be long,” he said before he walked out of the door. That was the last time I saw my husband alive. The last time I heard his voice and the last time he stood in my presence affectionately telling me he would be back. “The next morning, I got a call from the Police to come and identify my dead husband’s body… My world collapsed. It was horrible. I never in a million years thought I would go through this. He was killed while making honest living to take care of me and our child. I don’t know where to go and what to do. Friends and family are meeting, trying to assist with burial logistics and arrangement. I can’t afford the cost of taking his remains to his hometown, Isua Akoko, in Ondo State. We would raise funds here and bury him in Atlanta. This wasn’t our fairytale dream… it wasn’t the way we planned to end our union. He always told me that he would live for 120 years so he might enjoy and love me till the end with our children, then when I’m older, he would return to God, my children and I would bury him.Its heart breaking. It wasn’t supposed to end this horrible and gory way.”
Norcross, Georgia Police said that Late Mr. Afolabi Odifa, 36, was shot and killed:“The cab driver parked at the apartment complex for a few hours before anyone noticed, in the middle of the drive. “A couple of the residents did notice him,” said Norcross Police Captain Bill Grogan, “they thought he was intoxicated or asleep. “It wasn’t until a resident noticed him slumping over the wheel, not moving, that police were called. Odifa lived on Sunrise Village Lane in Norcross, about three miles from the scene of his murder.”
On Monday, Georgia Bureau of Investigations announced it had arrested Adam Matthew Pfeifer, 23, and charged him with murder. “Pfeifer was originally arrested on Aug. 18, two days after Afolabi was found dead inside his taxi at the Spring Lake Apartments. At that point, the Norcross resident was charged only with credit card fraud.
“But GBI spokeswoman Sherry Lang said Monday that several far more serious charges had been added to Pfeifer’s booking sheet — namely murder, armed robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and participation in criminal gang activity.
Lang did not release any further details regarding the case. Norcross police were called to the apartment complex off Chase Common Drive at about 3 a.m. on Aug. 16. They reportedly found Odifa, who worked for ATL Taxi, slumped over in his car and shot at least once. A 911 caller told police the vehicle had been in the parking lot for a couple of hours.
A specific motive for Odifa’s murder not been released, though the charges filed against Pfeifer indicate a robbery took place. Norcross police Capt. Bill Grogan said Pfeifer’s original arrest was wholly unrelated to the murder. The fraud charges stemmed from Pfeifer being suspected of stealing about $3,000 from his brother’s bank account earlier this year. ATM video from the bank showed Adam Pfeifer took the money out of his brother’s account,” Grogan said.Prior to additional charges being filed, Pfeifer was being held without bond in the Gwinnett County jail. It was unclear how long he had been a suspect in Odifa’s murder.
“Jebose, my husband was everything for the family. He was such a wonderful human being, very caring and always sacrificing the little that we were blessed with to help anyone. We came to America to build a great life, we were a young, determined family, praying to live and make something great from this opportunity. The opportunity has turned into a nightmare for me and my nine month old son. Whose shoulders are we going to lean on?. It was the three of us that planned our world, now I am left here, with my infant son to mourn my dearest husband, shot in the line of duty. He was only trying so hard to provide for his family. I don’t know how to explain to my son that his father will never return. He told me when he was walking out of the door that he would be back shortly: He will never return. My heart is aching. I don’t know if I can survive this horror, Jebose”
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