‘We need answers,’ sister says at funeral of Nigerian student fatally shot by Winnipeg police
Yemisi Opaso says she’s been thinking about her brother, Afolabi, constantly since he was fatally shot by Winnipeg police on New Year’s Eve.
“I never would have imagined that in my lifetime I’d be coming to Manitoba to bury my brother,” she told reporters outside of a West Broadway funeral home on Thursday morning.
“It’s been the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.”
Afolabi Opaso, 19, was shot dead by Winnipeg police officers responding to a well-being call at an apartment building at 77 University Crescent at about 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 31, the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba (IIU) — which investigates all serious incidents involving police in the province — previously said.
Winnipeg police said Afolabi, 19, an international student from Nigeria who studied at the University of Manitoba, was armed with two knives when officers shot him.
Yemisi described her brother as kind, sweet and respectful. She said he had always wanted to come to Canada and be with his friends at the university.
“He had so many dreams,” she said, adding that Afolabi planned to get his master’s degree in the United States and become an investment banker.
“We miss him so much.”
On Jan. 10, the IIU says it tapped its Alberta-based counterpart to take over the investigation of Afolabi’s death to avoid any perceived conflict of interest, after a Manitoba Justice employee was found to be a “close relative” of an officer involved in the shooting.
Yemisi, who lives in Texas, says the Alberta investigators have kept in touch with her weekly and will be in Winnipeg on Friday to speak with her.
However, she says they haven’t been able to offer many details about her brother’s death. She still doesn’t know when the investigation will be over or why her brother was shot by police.
“We need closure. We need answers. We just want to know what … really happened. Afolabi was shot three times,” she said. “There’s no clarity. We are in confusion, we are in agony.”
She also says her parents have been unwell since her brother’s death and remain in Nigeria.
Roommates ‘were scared’
Yemisi says she has also been meeting with Black leaders in Winnipeg, as well as Afolabi’s friends and the roommates who were present during the shooting.
Afolabi’s roommates told Yemisi that her brother was having a mental breakdown, and that they called 911 so he could get medical help, making it clear that he only posed a danger to himself, she said.
“He was trying to hurt himself with a knife. He was just banging his head on the wall. They tried to talk to him, they tried to persuade him, but they weren’t able to do anything and they were just scared.”
Afolabi’s roommates say he opened the door for police when they arrived at their apartment, Yemisi said.
“They never imagined that a … 911 call for a welfare check would lead to his death, so it’s been tough for every one of us.”
She will leave the answers of what happened to her brother with the investigators, but said there needs to be improved police training as “there are better ways to respond to mental health crises.”
‘It’s not what defines us’
Bukola Opaso, Afolabi’s sister who travelled from Nigeria to be at the funeral, says the investigation into his death won’t bring him back but will give her family closure.
She told reporters outside of the funeral home that Thursday was “the worst moment of our lives.”
“Up until now, I didn’t believe that he’s no more,” she said. “It’s really difficult to come to the terms that he’s no longer alive. Afolabi is very dear to us and all his friends in Nigeria.”
Uche Nwankwo, a co-ordinator with Africans In Winnipeg South — an organization concerned with the interest of all the Africans living in the city’s south side — says one of Afolabi’s roommates contacted him after the shooting so he could get in touch with the family.
Nwankwo says Afolabi’s killing has been challenging and traumatic for Winnipeg’s Black and African communities. He’s been ensuring newcomers to keep confidence in police during the investigation, as he says many come from places where police brutality is common.
“It’s not what defines us as a province, as a country,” he told reporters.
However, Nwankwo says everyone goes through mental health challenges, and there needs to be a change in the way those people are treated: “People with mental health [challenges] need to be helped differently.”
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