Mamadou Makadji, 22, came from his home country of Mali to study English at Temple University early in the summer of 2009.
The French-speaking man didn’t make it more than three months in his new American adventure before a gunman shot him dead as he sat on a park bench in Southwest Philadelphia with friends on an August evening.
Detectives at the time said Makadji, who had just watched a movie with his friends, likely couldn’t understand why someone was pointing a gun in his face and was shot for not complying to the robber’s demands.
After shooting the promising young man, the gunman reportedly fled without taking anything. Makadji was rushed from the shooting scene, which took place at 71st Street and Elmwood Avenue in the heart of Philadelphia’s West African community, to a nearby hospital. He died a short time later.
“In Mali, you have guns for animals — lions, tigers, elephants — not for people,” his uncle, Mame Makadji of Southwest Philadelphia, told the Daily News.
