Former Nigerian beauty queen, Najeebat Sule, a PhD student in Philadelphia has been confirmed dead.
She was reportedly shot while sitting in her car, 6pm on Friday, March 12.
24-year-old Najeebat had just returned from an outing according to her friend, who was on the phone with her chatting, when she was shot in her car in front of her family home.
She had recently earned her Masters degree in Public health. She was crowned a second runner-up at the Miss Nigeria International Pageant in 2019.
The deceased’s friend, Maraji was among the last to see her alive as she was at Maraji’s house a night before the incident, eating, having fun and watching Netflix.
24 hours afterwards, Najeebat was reportedly shot in her grey Toyota Corolla when an unidentified man walked up to her car, shooting several times.
Najeebat’s father, Adewale Sule, had witnessed the last shot as the gunfire had alerted him, making him come out of his house, to see the man fleeing into his car to speed off.
He said, “I saw the guy shooting my daughter. He shot the last round and I pursued him. He ran back to his car.”
She was then rushed to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital, where she was pronounced dead 30 minutes upon her arrival.
Recently, the number of gun-violence related cases has increased alarmingly in the U.S, even while the case of Asians being shot at their spas is still ongoing, three weeks into Najeebat’s shooting and the police are still clueless about the identity of the shooter.
According to Najeebat’s mother, she had spoken with her two hours before the shooting. The family and friends of the late beauty queen are still in distress waiting for news from the State Police.
