‘These people were gold’: Grief ripples widely for family killed in alleged anti-Muslim attack

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The circles of grief from what London police allege was a hate-motivated attack that killed three generations of a Muslim family are rippling out as far afield as Pakistan, the family’s homeland, and into the classrooms of a COVID-19-shuttered high school.

The stunning loss of four lives is being felt at home, by neighbours of the Afzaal family in a subdivision in the city’s northwest, and by their relatives on the other side of the globe.

Greg Tilford saw Salman Afzaal and his young son in front of their home the day before the family of five was struck by a driver whom London police contend was motivated by anti-Muslim hate, leaving the boy as the only survivor.

When he learned of the Afzaals’ deaths, Tilford returned to that very spot.

“I just went there, sat on the ground and bawled,” said the neighbour and friend. “It is a loss that we lost this family. Salman was the epitome of a gentleman and kindness.”

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Afzaal, a 46-year-old physiotherapist at several area nursing homes, his wife Madiha Salman, who was completing a PhD in engineering, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, were struck and killed at an intersection while out for a walk Sunday evening in Hyde Park, near their home.

The family’s nine-year-old son Fayez, the lone survivor of what police allege was a targeted attack, remains in hospital with serious injuries, longtime friend Saboor Khan said Wednesday.

Yumna was an honour roll student, with a “sparkling personality” and a bright future ahead, Oakridge secondary school principal Mike Phillips said.

“Her teachers describe her as someone who was always willing to support her friends and community, a creative and confident soul,” he said.

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“Another said she loved to learn and enjoyed the company of her friends and classmates and was always wanting to make her family proud of her efforts at school.”

Though she was only in Grade 9, Yumna was already on the path to post-secondary studies, Phillips said. She was preparing to enter the international baccalaureate program in grades 11 and 12, a prestigious, globally-recognized credential that gives students university credits based on their specialized high school work.

Grief support counsellors have been connecting with the high school’s staff, students and families in person and virtually, Phillips said, including an art class in which Yumna was enrolled.

Last year, the teen and her mother painted a mural at the London Islamic School at the London Muslim Mosque, with a picture of Earth, stars and planets and the inspirational message Shoot for the moon; even if you miss you will land among the stars.

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The family has kin in Karachi and Peshawar, Pakistan, family friend Meraj ul Huda Siddiqui said when reached Wednesday by The Free Press in Pakistan.

Ul Huda Siddiqui said the family in Pakistan, including Mediha Salman’s uncle, have requested privacy as they come to terms with what happened.

Family members from the United States and Pakistan are travelling to London for the funeral, Khan said.

In the tight-knit neighbourhood the Afzaal family called home, stories are now emerging about their kindness to others. About how, for example, Afzaal and his family took a mattress and bedding to a new neighbour who’d moved in across the street but whose furniture had not yet arrived, Tilford said.

Other times, the family would share food with neighbours or step in to pick up a neighbour’s child when getting a ride was a problem, he said.

“They were beautiful people in every capacity. He (Afzaal) was a devout Muslim, prayed five times daily and had no aggression at all in the world. He was polite and kind,” another area resident, who did not want to be identified, said.

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Another neighbour said if he was looking for Afzaal, a good place to check would be his garden. If someone in the neighbourhood wanted advice on taking care of their lawn, or planting flowers and greenery, he was happy to help.

“They were nice people. He took care of his yard really well, he loved landscaping,” said Steve, who declined to give his last name. “He had a great reputation in the neighbourhood. People always came to him and asked him about his yard.”

The Afzaal family remained close to neighbours past and present, said Khan, who met the family 14 years ago when they lived in the same building complex. Even when the families moved to different parts of the neighbourhood, their bond endured.

“They were pretty much like family . . .  We shared a lot of visits, meals. These people were gold,” Khan said.

“I walk with my family on the same route,  too . . . Just imagining them struggling for life, it is so inhumane. I struggle for words.”

A 20-year-old Londoner, Nathaniel Veltman, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

jbieman@postmedia.com

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