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Concerns that cameras located near scene of pizza delivery driver's death weren't working

PITTSBURGH — Family and friends of a local Domino’s pizza delivery driver are preparing to lay him to rest after he was shot and killed while working over the weekend.

Watch Michele Newell's report on an interfaith service calling for an end to violence

Community leaders spoke out Tuesday night about about the killing of the father of seven in East Liberty.

RELATED STORY: Pizza delivery driver shot, killed in East Liberty identified

Abdulganiyu Sanusi was a husband and father from Nigeria, his employer said. He was shot and killed in an apparent robbery Saturday afternoon.

Sanusi was originally dispatched to 201 Penn Avenue.

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GPS indicates a Wendy's restaurant, Sunoco gas station and a Family Dollar Store in the area, but there is no 201 to be found.

A short time later, the alleged customer called the store to change the delivery address to 125 North St. Clair Street. As he was getting out of his car, police say a witness heard someone yell, "Give me your money!" and then a gunshot.

"He had nothing on him because that was his first delivery. He got killed and then all his family, the whole community, gets to hurt for nothing," said Wasi Mohamed, the executive director of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh.

"He's trying to make an honest living and you've got people out here, miscreants that are probably not doing anything with their lives, and they want to prey on people," said resident Ashton Johnson.

Channel 11 learned from the Domino's district manager that Sanusi was the sole breadwinner for his family and leaves behind a wife and seven children.

Sanusi was a familiar face at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh.

"Every time we saw him we felt like he was working," Mohamed said.

He said Sanusi left Nigeria two years ago and had been working hard in Pittsburgh ever since.

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"He had seven kids and he was working all the time trying to support them and send money as much as he could. I can't imagine his kids never seeing their dad again. I don't know what the last thing they said to him was," Mohamed said.

The Islamic Center of Pittsburgh is paying for his funeral and just launched a fundraising campaign to help Sanusi's wife and children.

"I just hope people realize that he was such a hardworking person. He was supporting seven children and his wife was active in the community," Mohamed said.

"This is certainly a sad situation, but we have to work diligently together to make our neighborhood safer," said Rev. Ricky Burgess, a Pittsburgh city councilman.

 

Cox Media Group

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