Last August Meredith Elizalde, an American convert to Islam, had finally succumbed to the umpteenth pleas of her young son Nicolas, 14, who had been begging her for several months to let him play football. The king of sport par excellence, who for being a religion from across the Atlantic did not count this hen among his countless followers.
Flexing under the pressure, it was while shivering for her baby that this loving and protective mother, who hated the brutality of US football, finally agreed to buy him the famous pair of cleats that made him dream.
Meredith Elizalde feared the worst, but she was far from imagining that the absolute horror would take place in the heart of Philadelphia, on the rectangular, natural grass grounds of Roxborough High School, where, since the beginning of the school year, her son showed real predispositions for the oval ball. It’s still…
Broken by an immeasurable pain, she is a mother devastated by the tragic, unbearable death of the flesh of her flesh, in the recent shooting that bloodied the enclosure of the sanctuary of her high school, which she testifies today.
Innocent victim of the killing committed by five individuals determined to harm, who suddenly got out of an SUV before rushing into it in a hurry to escape, the young Nicolas is the only one among the five teenagers who fell under a terrible barrage of gunfire , to have been mortally mowed. Everyone came out of the locker room, after having wet the shirt, when they found themselves in the crosshairs of a commando of hit men, armed to the teeth, which according to the first elements of the investigation would be barely bigger than them. .
Meredith Elizalde had come to pick up her son from school that fateful Tuesday in late September when more than 60 shots went off with a deafening crash, making her shiver with fear. Overwhelmed by a bad feeling, she remembers running out of breath in the direction of the shots, despite the danger, before discovering an unbearable scene: her son was lying on the ground in a pool of blood, dying.
” I ran frantically towards the shots, nothing could stop me. I held my son, I stroked his face, I felt him leave. He was no longer alone. I softly told him “I love you, I am here” and recited the Shahada said this devastated mother, adding in a voice choked with tears: ” He was the best child you could have, loved animals, participated in marches for environmental protection and gun control. It is a terrible tragedy ”.
In the presence of several high religious dignitaries, Muslims, Christians and Jews, from all over the state of Pennsylvania, more than 100 deeply affected people took part in the heartwarming candlelight vigil which took place near Roxborough High School, in memory of the martyr Nicolas Elizalde, whose fate was struck by the ferocity of men.
To Allah we belong and to Him we will return.
perhaps Allah accepts #NicolasElisalde as a martyr and grant his mother Meredith patience and firmness.
Please pray for them. pic.twitter.com/OTg4JGB7Uh
– Dr. Omar Suleiman (@ omarsuleiman504) 1 October 2022
“ To Allah we belong and to Him we will return. May Allah accept #NicolasElizalde as a martyr and grant his mother Meredith patience and steadfastness. please pray for them “Wrote Imam Omar Suleiman Twitter.
