43
Murder of South Side store owner "still feels like a dream," friend says
EDITOR’S NOTE — As 2014 winds down, The Vindicator is taking a daily look back at the people and events that made this year unforgettable. “The Vindicator Rewind” will highlight and update a memorable story from 2014.
YOUNGSTOWN
When Mehmet Kusuni, 35, planned for his graduation from Youngstown State University this month, he always imagined his best friend would be there to see it.
Instead, he attended the ceremony alone.
A month after the murder of store owner Abdullah Nagi Mahdi, his absence is acutely felt by his friends and family.
“We’ve started to accept it, but it still feels like a dream,” said Kusuni, one of Mahdi’s closest friends. “It’s like he’s back home visiting his family.”
The family Kusuni spoke of includes a wife, father and seven daughters who range in age from 2 to 14, all of whom live in Yemen.
The 29-year-old owner of Reema’s Fashion, 2608 South Ave., and a store on Belmont Avenue, lived here most of the year to make money for his family, and then visited home for a few months each year.
He and Kusuni met about 12 years ago at the mosque they both attended and were inseparable ever since.
“He was my best friend. He was like my brother. And I was his best friend, too,” Kusuni said previously. “I would see him every single day, and if I didn’t see him, we would talk on the phone. ... We were just always together.”
Mahdi was killed Nov. 19 after he and a suspect identified as Larry McDonald exchanged gunfire during a robbery attempt at the South Avenue store. Mahdi died of a gunshot wound to the head.
Now, Kusuni is left only with memories of Mahdi, which Kusuni said he and Mahdi’s other friends talk about often.
“Every day something good comes up,” he said. “He was younger than me, but he was very mature and grown. I still used to ask him for advice. Maybe because he had seven kids, that made him think about life more.”
“I miss his smile the most. He always used to smile,” he said.
McDonald was indicted Dec. 4 on murder charges in Mahdi’s killing. McDonald also faces aggravated robbery charges.
Many friends and acquaintances have described Mahdi as the type of person who would have given McDonald help if he had just asked.
“We need justice. And we believe justice will happen,” Kusuni said. He said he plans to be at all of the court hearings as the trial proceeds.
Since Mahdi’s death, his father has had the chance to visit his son’s grave.
A video clip taken by friends at the cemetery shows Mahdi’s father standing by the gravesite and repeatedly screaming out, “Abdullah!”
“Your father is here to see you. ... I miss you my son,” he said at the gravesite.
Mahdi’s friends will do what they can to help his father and the rest of his family, Kusuni said.
Thirty friends have pledged to send $30 per month each to Mahdi’s family, and community members already have donated about $50,000 to a fund set up in Mahdi’s name that his wife can access, Kusuni said. Mahdi’s business partner also will send half of what he earns to his family.
“He says he’ll be a partner forever,” Kusuni said.
The friends Mahdi leaves behind have one comfort, Kusuni said: “It makes the people just feel happy knowing, with God’s mercy, he’s in heaven.”
They also have learned an important lesson from Mahdi’s death at age 29, he said.
“Dying, or passing away, doesn’t have an age,” he said. “It could come any time.”