LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A pregnant wife and mother who left Africa to escape violence is one of Louisville's latest homicide victims.
Nyota Bawili, 39, was shot and killed Sunday along with her unborn child.
"We are very saddened and very in pain," said Rolend Butsitsi, who spoke Tuesday on behalf of Bawili's grieving family of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
"We came from a country where there are guns and violence like war. And for some reason, we thought that the grass was greener on the other side. And for some reason, we've come and we succumb to the same thing that we as a community, as a people, endured in the Congo."
Bawili and her child were pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting, on Wabash Place, off Southside Drive.
"Mom and dad and a 13-year-old were watching TV around 2 a.m.," Butsitsi. "And all of a sudden, they heard a gunshot. And then they look around, and then his wife was on the ground with a bullet in her head.
"He's very saddened to have lost not only his wife but his partner. She was not only his wife. She was his best friend."
Bawili's husband doesn't speak English but shared his heartbreak through a relative and translator.
"To see his wife dead in front of him and in front of their child, that's the most devastating thing he's ever experienced in life," Butsitsi said.
Right now, Louisville Metro Police is investigating the case, but family members don't believe Bawili was the intended target.
"Knowing that they have no issue with anybody in the city, there's more questions to be asked than answers to be given," Butsitsi said.
As police look for suspects, Christopher 2X with Game Changers and mayoral candidate Anthony Oxendine are helping with funeral arrangements. And despite this tragedy, family members still believe in the American dream.
"We still got faith in this community, because the Louisville community is a very helpful community, and we need and we want help to find whoever did this," Butsitsi said.
If you have any information about the shooting, you can call the Metro Police Department's anonymous tip line at 574-LMPD.
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