The father of two survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting in February was shot and killed last Tuesday at the convenience store where he worked.
Ironically, it was Parkland’s supposed safety that prompted Ayub Ali to move his wife and children to the community, Parkland survivor Elama Ali told CNN. Ayub Ali, was 61 when he was fatally shot at Aunt Molly’s Food Store, in North Lauderdale, Fla.
“The reason we moved to Parkland was because he liked the school,” Elama Ali, 16, told the news organization. “I didn’t want to move here, but he told us, ‘We are only moving because the school is amazing.’ ”
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School the scene of the deadly shooting in February in Parkland was named by the National Council for Home Safety as Florida’s safest in 2016.
Ali would become the victim of the type of violence that turned his life and the lives of fellow parents upside-down. On Feb. 14, teen shooter Nikolas Cruz burst into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, shooting at students and teachers and leaving 17 people dead. Ayub Ali’s daughter, Elama Ali, and a son were survivors of the shooting.
Ayub Ali came to the United States from Bangladesh in the 1990s, the sole breadwinner for Elama Ali and three sons, the youngest just short of 2-year-old, CNN reported.
Elama Ali became an anti-violence advocate after the Parkland shooting and her father encouraged her to travel to Washington for the “March for Our Lives” rally in March.
“When I was in Washington, he asked about it,” she said. “He watched it on TV.”
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As the family struggled to contend with what happened at Parkland in February, Tuesday’s tragedy added the unimaginable to the family’s burdens.
A man entered Ali’s store, pointed a gun at the father and husband, took money from the cash register and left, CNN reported. But for some reason, the man returned, fatally shooting Ali police told CNN.
Ali’s wife said she cannot make sense of the crime.
“If you came for the money, take the money and go,” Farhana Ali told CNN. “Why did you have to kill my husband?”
Officials have released video of the shooting but have not yet made any arrests, CNN reported.
Watch the video below from CBS News of the deadly shooting
