“Good Samaritan” was shot dead while trying to protect an old man on the street outside his mosque

A 19-year-old “Good Samaritan” was shot dead in central Hamilton while he was trying to stop two men from harassing an older man. Yosif Al Hasnawi had just left a neighborhood mosque with a friend and a younger brother, when he witnessed two men accosting a senior man. When Al Hasnawi tried to stop them one of them shot him with a handgun.

Al Hasnawi was a medical science student at Brock University. He is the oldest of five children in his family who came to Canada from Iraq.

Witnesses said paramedics responding to the fatal shooting of Al Hasnawi grabbed him and shook him at the scene, not believing his injuries were real. Other media sources quoted other witnesses saying that paramedics on scene were laughing, they did not act fast enough to save Al Hasnawi’s life and the ambulance left the scene without sirens or flashing lights

Hamilton police Det. Sgt. Steve Bereziuk said paramedics took around 40 minutes to transfer Al Hasnawi who was still alive, to the hospital.

EMS spokesperson Allison Jones said that the Ministry of Health and Hamilton EMS Deputy Chief Russell Crocker they will conduct an investigation.

In a statement Brock University president Gervan Fearon said the community was “shocked and deeply saddened” to learn of Al Hasnawi’s death and offered “deepest sympathies to his family.”

Hamilton police have arrested James Matheson, one of two men wanted in connection with Al-Hasnawi’s death.