MARIETTA, Ga. — The Cobb County Kenyan community is demanding justice for a local Kenyan-American businessman who died while working in Birmingham, Alabama.
Hundreds of people packed a Cobb County church Sunday for a memorial service for Mike Mulwa Ngangi, 29.
"He was murdered senselessly, because the killer did not give him a chance to live his full life," Ngangi's cousin Eric Sukulu told Channel 2's Matt Johnson.
Ngangi died last Saturday night at the Citgo station he owned in Birmingham.
“He had that contagious good personality. Always happy, always motivating people,” Sukulu said.
Police say someone shot and killed Ngangi during an apparent robbery.
Ngangi's family told Johnson he commuted back and forth to support his two children and his wife who is eight months pregnant.
“It was wrong to kill such a young promising person,” Sukulu said.
Ngangi's childhood friend Tony Ndavi told Johnson that he and Ngangi moved to the U.S. together in 2008 to start a new life.
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They started a business together selling shirts with Kenya's 254 country code on them.
“Distributing our merchandise to Kenyans and Africans all over the United States,” Ndavi said.
Many of the people at the memorial bought the 254 apparel to support Ngangi's widow.
“She's due in a couple of weeks, so emotionally it's taking a toll on her," Ndavi told Johnson.
The local Kenyan community said it will rally behind Ngangi's family in Cobb County and in Kenya while police look for the killer.
“We are really distraught and we seek justice for him,” Sukulu said.
Ngangi's parents are still in Kenya, and the community in Cobb County is trying to have his body sent back to his home country.
The family has started a GoFundMe account to help raise money for funeral expenses.
Cox Media Group
