killed at the home of his friend Jassjeet Singh, also 17, in the 11600 block of Sweet Pea Run on Friday afternoon.
A high school community is dumbfounded at the weekend shooting death in West Bexar County of a senior track star and the arrest of his friend.
Bexar County Sheriff’s Office detectives are at a loss to explain why Brian Odipo, 17, was shot and killed at the home of his friend Jassjeet Singh, also 17, in the 11600 block of Sweet Pea Run on Friday afternoon.
Odipo, shot in the right buttock and in the head, was flown to University Hospital, where friends said the numbers of visitors made the waiting room resemble a Stevens High School gathering. He died Sunday night.
Singh, arrested at the scene, remains in Bexar County Jail on one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and also is under an immigration hold, officials said. He’s being held without bail.
Sgt. Jose Trevino said he expected Singh to be charged with murder this week. Singh became angered at Odipo, but didn’t give deputies any clue as to why, Trevino said.
By all accounts, the boys were friends. Both attended Stevens in the Northside Independent School District. Although Odipo’s mother, Mary S. Odipo, never met Singh, she wasn’t surprised he was at a friend’s house Friday.
“He was an outgoing kid, but also respectful and well-mannered,” she said at her home Tuesday. “He was a friend to the old, to the young; it didn’t matter what race, age or sex.”
Odipo was at Stevens’ alternative school, where a district spokesman said he’d been placed after breaking into a vehicle on campus Oct. 7, but his mother claims he chose the smaller class setting because it allowed him to work in the afternoons. He left after lunch Friday and was expected to pick up a friend from school later, Mary Odipo said.
Instead, he, Singh and another school peer were at Singh’s two-story brick house when shots were fired. The third boy witnessed part of the incident, Trevino said, but he didn’t know what caused the apparent rage.
“The shooter was just upset; he became upset and he says he just shot the victim,” Trevino said.
The witness left and Singh went to pick up a friend from work and admitted the shooting to him, deputies said. Then Singh drove the two of them back to his home, where Odipo still lay bleeding on the kitchen floor. Officials said the boy Singh picked up called 911.
Jassjeet Singh, 17, is suspected of shooting 17-year-old Brian Odipo, also 17, in the head Friday. The injured teen remains hospitalized in critical condition Sunday.
Trevino declined to describe the murder weapon, but said deputies found it hidden in Singh’s attic.
For hour after hour, Odipo’s mother, his father — El Paso-based U.S. Army chaplain Steven Odipo Siaji — and siblings Linda, 19 and David, 5 — didn’t leave his side.
Linda Odipo said she can’t fathom life without her brother.
“He’s my other half,” she said. “We would tell each other everything, and he was always with me.”
Raised in Kenya, the Odipos moved to Bexar County when Brian was 5 to join Siaji, who already was in the United States.
Brian adjusted to America easily, excelled in sports and was a good student, his mother said. He already had committed to joining the Marines upon graduation in May.
“He was real determined and motivated, and he was a great teammate,” said Randy Lighteard, who coached him on the San Antonio Blazers track and field team. “He was always so happy.”
Brian Odipo worked at the Wash Tub on Bandera Road and was meticulous about keeping his own powder-blue Jeep Cherokee clean, using it to shuttle friends around.
He knew people all over town, Mary Odipo said, and many of his friends met each other for the first time at his hospital bedside.
“In Kenya, when a child is born, it’s everybody’s child. Here, it’s just one family’s,” she said as her face quivered with emotion. “I learned at the hospital he was everybody’s son and everybody’s brother.”
Source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/teen_dies_of_gunshot_injuries_105268888.html?showFullArticle=y
UPDATE: FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS BY ODIPO’S FAMILY IN SAN ANTONIO
Thye family of the slain Kenyan teen in San Antonio is requesting your prayers. Brian Odipo who was shot in San Antonio was the son of Mary and Stephen Siaji. Brian was a senior at Stevens High and passed away on Sunday October 17th. Family and friends are meeting at the family’s address on:
15019 Peoples Dr,
San Antonio, Texas 78253. Please keep the family in your prayers.
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