Canadian police officer shoots 19-year-old Nigerian student dead on New Year Eve

The family of the deceased are seeking answers regarding what happened to the young Nigerian.

A 19-year-old Nigerian student has being shot dead by Police operatives in Canada, who received a distress call that a young man was acting erratically.

The student who was identified as Afolabi Stephen Opaso, was shot dead on the 31st of December, 2023.

According to a statement by the the Winniepeg Police Service, the officers, who responded to the distress call at an apartment suite in the first 100 block of University Crescent, were confronted by Opaso, who was reported to have been armed with two knives.

In the course of their encounter, an officer reported discharged their firearm, which struck the University student. Opaso died despite attempts to get him medical treatment at an hospital.

Meanwhile, the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba (IIU) have been notified of the incident, and while investigation has begun, the family of the deceased are seeking answers regarding what happened to the young Nigerian.

“If the issue was to unarm the person, was the shot necessary?” Jean-René Dominique Kwilu, the lawyer assisting the family, told CBC.

Winniepeg police chief, Danny Smyth, said that the deceased had no prior criminal record, hence, they didn’t know much about him.

“I think we had one other encounter with him, sometime last July, where we assisted him by providing him with a ride,” he said. “He has no other record with us, and certainly no criminal record.”

Smyth also added that the other two people in the room with Opaso were safe, and now considered as witnesses.