‘My heart, my son.’ Sacramento’s Afghan community once again grieves, searches for answers
Abdul Mobin Andishmand and Shujauddin Omarkheil were both students at American River College in Sacramento and refugees from Afghanistan seeking a better life with their families in the United States. But they didn’t know each other on Oct. 3, when they walked into the East Market & Restaurant - Sharq.
They were both just shopping that Saturday afternoon at the Arden Arcade market that sells halal and Afghan groceries and meals. Andishmand was buying fresh bread for his family. Omarkheil was waiting in line to pay for his items at the cashier counter, his 4-year-old daughter at his side.
Then gunshots rang out.
Andishmand, 19, and Omarkheil, 27, were both shot by a gunman they didn’t know, another member of the Afghan community in the Sacramento area. Andishmand and Omarkheil would die later, and a third man injured in the market shooting would survive.
“I lose my heart, my son,” Abdul Andishmand, Andishmand’s father, told The Sacramento Bee. “We come here to be safe, to continue our life here.”
Sacramento is home to one of the largest Afghan refugee populations in the United States. Hundreds arrived here with Special Immigrant Visas granted for their service to the U.S. coalition in the war in Afghanistan. But life has been hard for many Afghans in Sacramento, where refugees often live in bug-infested low-cost housing and are victims of violence.
The shooting at the East Market & Restaurant has created another round of despair for the community – and has left many searching for support, counseling and answers.
Sacramento non-profit offers help
Relatives of both victims killed in the East Market shooting gathered last week to honor their loved ones at the Masjid Annur Islamic Center in south Sacramento. They stood in solidarity with other grieving community members, hoping to find ways to heal after the brazen shooting that took three lives, including the gunman who turned the gun on himself.
“It affects us all. It affects the whole community ... all of us suffering at the same time. It’s going to affect us in years to come,” said Gulshan Yusufzai, executive director of the Muslim American Society - Social Services Foundation, which co-hosted the event.
Yusufzai and her team at MAS-SSF wanted to make it clear that there is culturally competent services to help those in the Muslim community suffering from mental health issues. They emphasized that seeking help early can prevent similar acts of gun violence.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office has said Hassibullah Shams Hassib, 33, opened fire on the three victims at the market. He died at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, sheriff’s officials said.
Hassib was enrolled as a UC Davis student majoring in international relations. According to an online campus directory, Hassib was a junior at the school.
“I don’t have any knowledge in terms of what happened, why he did it,” Yusufzai told The Bee. “We’re assuming it has to be something related to mental health. We don’t know.”
Sheriff’s officials have said detectives do not believe the suspect and the victims knew each other. The detectives also did not have any indication that the shooting at the Afghan market was a hate crime. Detectives had not determined a motive.
Yusufzai said the manner in which this shooting occurred will linger in the minds of the people who routinely shop at the market, so the community needs help dealing with that type of trauma.
“If a person can get up, go to a market, a simple market where people were shopping for the weekend and shoot everybody there or the victims, the three, it can happen again and again,” Yusufzai said. “So, hopefully our goal is that the county, the state is able to see this and see how it affects the refugees.”
Shooting a ‘deep tragedy’ for refugees
Oussama Mokeddem, policy and advocacy manager for the Council on American-Islamic Relations Sacramento Valley, said the East Market & Restaurant on El Camino Avenue, not far from Watt Avenue, is frequented by many refugees living in Sacramento.
He said shopping for groceries was a sliver of normalcy as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the community hard the past several months. For a shooting like this to happen now is a shock to the community.
“This is a deep tragedy, not only for the refugee community and for new arrivals to the United States, but the Sacramento community at large,” Mokeddem said. “This is something that hit home for a lot of us.”
The families left behind are mourning while wondering how their lives will continue. Qais Jalal, Omarkheil’s older brother, said the shooting has left his sister-in-law widowed with a 4-year-old girl and 6-month-old boy to raise.
Even more heart-wrenching is the disturbing violence his little niece witnessed when her father was shot in front of her. Jalal said he’s worried about the long-lasting traumatic effects this will have on her.
“She saw it all. I don’t know how much she remembers,” Jalal said. “She saw this tragedy happen.”
He said his brother was a hardworking man, holding down two jobs, including driving part-time for Uber to support his family as he started taking courses at the community college. In Afghanistan, Omarkheil worked as a clerk at the U.S. Embassy before he came to this country in late 2018. A family friend started a GoFundMe account to help Omarkheil’s widow and children.
Wasai Rahimi, Andishmand’s uncle, said his nephew was a very intelligent and humble young man who loved playing soccer. One of Andishmand’s relatives started a GoFundMe account to help his family.
Andishmand’s family came to the United States from Afghanistan in 2014 so the young man could get an education and pursue a better life. Andishmand was a 2019 graduate of Encina High School.
“He was friendly to everyone. Whoever met him once, loved him,” Rahimi said. “Mainly, people come here to be safe. But they don’t know that death is everywhere.”
Yusufzai said MAS-SSF is providing services to the families of the victims. She said they’re also trying to reach out to offer help to Hassib’s family, who she imagines is also struggling with grief and anguish.
Counseling with cultural understanding
The non-profit in Sacramento offers peer counseling in five languages from trained volunteers from various educational and ethnic backgrounds. Yusufzai said it’s common in the Muslim community to not seek help outside your own family, so the organization wants to offer counseling from people who understand their cultural background and their experience as a refugee.
“The first part of healing is comfort, then you’re able to open up,” said Yusufzai, who also is Afghan and came here through the refugee process. “I would say to the Afghan community, ‘We’re here for you.’”
MAS-SSF also offers programs tailored for elderly people and youth. Christina Aguilar, program manager of the Amala Youth Hopeline, said they help young people feel less isolated in their struggles.
“Prevention is important. If you get help right when you start having difficulty, there is a less of a chance of having anxiety, depression and other health issues,” Aguilar told the audience at Wednesday’s event.
The Council of Sacramento Valley Islamic Organizations co-hosted the community event. The council’s president, Imam Yasir Khan, emphasized the importance of spiritual, physical, emotional and psychological wellness. He said as Muslims, it’s essential to keep a healthy body, mind and soul, and it’s a duty to support each other in achieving that good health through the resources available in the community.
“Our community is in pain,” Khan told the audience. “And we understand from our Islamic tradition that our community is like a body. If one part is in pain, then the entire body is in pain.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
