Print

Tragedy: 21-Year-Old Kenyan-American Stabbed to Death in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Parent Category: Issue
in Issue 9

User Rating: 0 / 5

Star InactiveStar InactiveStar InactiveStar InactiveStar Inactive
 
Sean Mwangi, 21, stabbed to death

By EADM Correspondent

In Summary: A Kenyan-American youth, Sean Mwangi, 21, died in hospital after he was stabbed twice by a friend in the Dinkytown neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the police announced Thursday. A suspect, Brandon Kenneth Bockoven, 23, who admitted to have twice stabbed Saun Mwangi, was arrested at the crime scene and charged with second-degree murder Friday. The two were friends or acquaintances, the police spokesperson said. The suspect remains in custody but appeared in court for a $1 million bail hearing on Monday August 29.

Kenyan-American Sean Mwangi, 21, whose life was ended prematurely

Minneapolis, Minnesota—A Kenyan-American youth, Sean Mwangi, 21, died in hospital after he was stabbed twice by a friend in  the Dinkytown neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the police announced here Thursday. A suspect, Brandon Kenneth Bockoven, 23,  who admitted to have twice stabbed Saun Mwangi, was arrested at the crime scene and charged with second-degree murder last Friday. The two were friends or acquaintances, the police spokesperson said.The suspect remains in custody but appeared in court for a $1 million bail hearing on Monday August 29.

Brandon Kenneth Bockoven, 23, in police custody, admitted wielding the killer knife.

By the time the young man was killed, his mother, Stella Omoke, was visiting relatives in Texas. She flew back to Minneapolis, Friday to claim the body of her son, who arrived in the USA a few years ago and was sworn-in as an American citizen last year. “The mother, my niece, is totally devastated by the untimely death of her beloved and youthful son,” the Aunt who the bereaved mother was visiting in Dallas, Texas told the EADM in an interview Friday.

Ms. Stella Omoke, the devastated mother of the deceased.

Meanwhile, the vigil for the deceased is currently underway at the sister’s residence in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The deceased’s father still lives in Nairobi, Kenya. This is the second Kenyan-American youth to be stabbed in the United States in about three months. The first one was stabbed 37 times in May by a friend in Texas. He is still in hospital fighting for his life.

According to the Hennepin County attorney’s office, the stabbing took place on Thursday in Minneapolis’ Dinkytown neighborhood. Police arrested the suspect at the scene and he remains in custody until Monday August 29 when he will appear in court for a $1 million bail hearing, according to the charge. When Police arrived at the crime scene, 13th and University avenues SE. near the University of Minnesota, just after 7:30 PM, they found the victim in the front passenger seat of a Honda sedan, Corey Schmidt, the police spokesman said. The victim was rushed to Hennepin County Medical Center where he died later, police said. The two men are not believed to be students at the University of Minnesota.

Saun Mwangi, succumbed to knife wounds

At the crime scene, police officers found Brandon Bockoven, 23, in the driver’s seat with two other people nearby, according to police spokesman Corey Schmidt. The complaint filed by the office of the Hennepin County attorney's stated that when police asked where the suspect had gone; Bockoven told the police that he was the one who had stabbed the victim twice after they had argued about money for auto parts. The suspect handed a blue folding knife to the police at the scene.  

Two other passengers in the car also told the police that the men were arguing over money the victim owed to Bockoven for some auto parts, according to the criminal complaint. Bockoven, 23, is said to have stab the victim twice in the torso, one female witness present at the scene told the police Thursday.