Mutahir Rauf was a pre-med student.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: A memorial service was held today for a Pakistani student who was studying at Loyola University, Mutahir Rauf, 23, gunned down in a scuffle with two men, who attempted to rob him and his brother as they walked down a street in Chicago, last Friday.
Rauf, a pre-med student, was fatally shot while walking with his brother about 7:40 p.m. Friday near Albion and Lakewood avenues, reported the Chicago Tribune.
Rauf, a graduate of Northwestern University, was walking with his younger brother when two attackers approached them and tried to rob them. One of the attackers pulled a gun and ordered the brothers to hand over their money, said Ald. Joe Moore, 49th. Rauf believed the gun was a toy and reached for it, Moore said. The gun went off during the scuffle, and the attackers fled, he said.
Chicago police on Monday described one of the robbers as a black man, about 18 to 20 years old, standing about 6 feet tall and weighing about 140 to 150 pounds. He was wearing a black ski mask and a black hoodie at the time of the robbery. The other robber was a black or Hispanic man, about 18 to 20 years old, standing about 5-foot-8 and weighing about 150 pounds. He was wearing a black knit cap and a black hoodie.
Rauf’s parents headed to Chicago from Pakistan on Sunday, said Ahmed Rehab, a friend of the family who spoke with the Tribune by phone.
Rauf was born in Lahore, Pakistan, and came to the United States with his mother, Nighat, and his brothers, now ages 26 and 22, to live with their father, Abdul, in New York City, according to a biography distributed by Rehab, who is acting as the family’s spokesman.
In New York, Rauf lived in the neighborhoods of Bensonhurst in Brooklyn and Ozone Park in Queens and went to Brooklyn Technical High School.
Rauf attended Northwestern University and graduated with a double bachelor’s degree in psychology and science. During his time at Northwestern, he worked “with disenfranchised communities” in Cebu, Philippines, according to the biography. He was pursuing a post-baccalaureate degree in pre-medicine at Loyola, Rehab said. Rauf aspired to become a doctor and was in the process of applying to medical school.
According to Tribune’s RedeyeChicago, at a morning Mass at Madonna della Strada Chapel on the Loyola campus, on Monday, the Rev. Tom Tobin connected Rauf’s death during an attempted robbery to killings by police in Missouri and New York.
“There are all kinds of people in our society that die because of violence in very different ways,” Tobin said. Parishioners prayed for Rauf and for an end to violence on Chicago’s streets.
While the circumstances surrounding Rauf’s killing differ considerably from the situations involving police and civilians in Missouri and New York, Tobin was joined by other students in noting that Rauf’s killing, which occurred just one block from the university’s campus, was another example of how violence can devastate a community, noted RedEye.
Following the Mass, the students marched through Rogers Park, making a stop at the site where Rauf was killed.