BUFFALO, N.Y. — Like many in the City of Buffalo, Nusrat Jahan Tapu and Khalida Akter still can’t make sense of the last 48 hours.
Their husbands Abu Yousuf and Babul Meah were just responding to a work call at a vacant home on Zenner Street Saturday when they were met at the door by a squatter and shot.
Yousuf was killed instantly, and Babul was rushed to the hospital where he was later declared dead.
“Seven hours, my husband was lying there,” Tapu said. “And I had no idea that he already died.”
Both women told 2 On Your Side their husbands were hard working, caring men from Bangladesh, who always put their families first and moved them to the U.S for the promise of a better future.
“For days I no sleep,” Akter said. “My eyes open every time. I think my husband is coming. Maybe door open, he coming.”
The two said the randomness of this act makes them feel like it isn’t safe in Buffalo anymore — a city they had lived in for just about a year each — and now don’t know how to move forward in this country without their husbands that brought them here.
Buffalo Police announced Monday that the family is a little closer to justice with the arrest of 31-year-old Dale O. Cummings on a weapon possession charge. He is a person of interest in the murders but has not yet been charged for them.
“I just want what kind of pain I am going through that this person or this person's family is also going through,” Tapu said.
But even if he does feel that same pain, the two know it won’t bring their husbands home — or provide them with any more clarity of why this all had to happen to them.
“I have no idea how I'm going to live my life without him,” Tapu said. “I have two children with me, and I'm pregnant. I really need help. I really, really need help.”
A prayer service for the victims is scheduled at the Buffalo Muslim center Tuesday at 2 p.m. There are also GoFundMes set up for the families. The Meah family’s can be reached here, and the Yousuf family’s can be reached here.
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