WASHINGTON: Abdul Rauf, a popular member of the Pakistani community in the Washington DC area, was fatally shot on Saturday night in Maryland’s Oxon Hill neighbourhood during a carjacking.

Mr Rauf’s friends and relatives said that the carjackers tried to snatch his car and shot him three times from a close range when he resisted. He died on the spot. The robbers took his car.

Two years ago, Mr Rauf received a bravery award from the Alexandria police department for rescuing a woman officer from local hooligans who were attacking her with iron rods.

For 18 years, his Chutney restaurant was the centre of the cultural and social activities of the Pakistani and Indian communities in the Washington DC area.

Last year, another Pakistani, Mohammad Anwar, 66, was also killed during a carjacking in Washington’s Nationals Park area. Two teenagers were arrested for his murder.

Later, a DC court ordered both teenagers to be held in a youth detention facility until they turn 21. This was the maximum punishment the court could have awarded to the two perpetrators who were 15 and 13 when they committed the offence.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2022