An Arizona teenager was beaten to death after a pickup soccer game in Phoenix spiraled into violence, with his family saying he was trying to protect his brother just days before he was supposed to start college.
Tumusifu Bazirake, 19, was playing soccer with his brother against a group of people they did not know at Sueno Park on Aug. 6 around 8 p.m. when several suspects attacked him after the match, according to the Phoenix Police Department.
His brother, Jeanpaul, who had been on the field with him, said the confrontation began after the opposing team became upset about losing the game.
“Then (they were) beating us, pushing us, cause we scored on them, and they got mad and all that,” Jeanpaul told WKYC.
Jeanpaul said Tumusifu stepped in to defend him as the situation turned chaotic, with both brothers overwhelmed during a fight he said lasted about 20 minutes.
“After (an opposing player) threw a punch, I blocked it. Then they just jumped on me, all of them. Then that’s when my brother jumped in, too,” he said.
Jeanpaul described the terrifying moment he saw his brother on the ground, unable to defend himself as the attack continued.
“I tried to turn around, then he was on the ground, and they were just stepping on him while he’s on the ground. Stepping, kicking, punching — all that,” he told the outlet.
Bazirake’s attackers then fled the park — about 10 miles from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport — when they noticed he was unresponsive, the Phoenix Police Department said.
Fire officials found Bazirake unconscious and rushed him to a local hospital in “extremely critical condition,” the Phoenix Police Department said.
Bazirake died from his injuries on Aug. 13, prompting authorities to open a homicide investigation.
His remains were turned over to the Office of the Medical Examiner, with cause of death pending an autopsy, police said.
No arrests have been made and no suspects or persons of interest have been publicly identified by police.
Bazirake’s heartbroken family told WKYC he was supposed to start his first semester at community college on August 24 — with dreams of becoming a firefighter after graduation.
His mother, speaking to the outlet through a translator, said her son adored school, valued his education and wanted to become a firefighter to “help people.”
A GoFundMe was set up to help his family with funeral expenses so that he can be “laid to rest with dignity, love, and respect.”
“Losing a child is a sorrow no parent should ever have to face, and this moment has brought deep grief and many difficult decisions all at once,” the page read.
