Dead: Rabia Mohammed with her husband Shazam Khan in happier times
Guyanese woman living in New York was shot dead on Sunday following an attack by three muggers on her and her husband in Queens, New York. Three persons have since been arrested.
Newly-wed Rabia Mohammed, 23, died fighting off the three armed men who attempted to snatch her mobile phone. It was reported by Mohammed’s husband, Shazam Khan, that his new bride held onto her phone because it contained romantic texts from him.
On Thursday, the heart-broken 29-year-old Khan declared: “Nothing in the bag was so valuable; she had a phone, an iPod and maybe $20. She was very sentimental. She really cherished our text messages. “She has four cell phones that are full (of our messages). When she doesn’t have any memory left, she gets a new phone.”
It was reported in the New Post that the couple were married in October 2010 and were walking on 204th Street in Hollis at around 20:30 hours. They were reportedly on their way to Khan’s mother’s house when the three thugs demanded Mohammed’s purse. The killers came “out of nowhere”, Khan stated.
He was grabbed by one of the attackers, while another took possession of his wife, and the third grabbed his wife’s purse.
Khan said he broke free of his attacker and jumped towards his wife to help her when he saw “two flashes” of gunfire. Mohammed was shot twice in the chest, and as she lay dying in her husband’s arms, the muggers fled the scene.
“As bad as it was, at least I was with her when her time came,” Khan said. “I would never wish for someone’s wife to die in their arms. It’s a terrible thing.”
