Man fatally shot on Chicago train served in Marines, dreamed of being police officer
The father of one of the four people shot and killed on the CTA Blue Line train early Monday morning had to drive hours from Columbus, Ohio, to identify and claim his son's body.
He suspected his son, Simeon Bihesi, 28, was on the train going to get a hot breakfast when the suspected shooter walked onto his train car and shot him.
"I could not sleep," said Leonard Nyamusevya. "I'm very disappointed. I don't know what I can say or how I can express myself."
Nyamusevya, Bihesi's father, was on his way to pick up his son's birth certificate before heading to the Cook County Medical Examer's Office to see his body when CBS News Chicago reached him.
"I need to come to get the body," Nyamusevya said. "And come to find a place to bury him, here in Columbus."
The two lived in Columbus, where Bihesi was enlisted in the Marines. His dad said he left for training before coming back home for a period of time and later was called back to serve his country.
"He's a person that believed that human beings should be equal and he believed that there should be a rule of law," Nyamusevya said.
After Bihesi returned from the Marines, the family lost their home after the government seized it in a foreclosure case.
"They took everything from the house and when he came back, he did not just feel like the young man I used to know," Nyamusevya said. "I saw a different change over disappointment, and happiness, and bitter."
His father said Bihesi left for Chicago, near his mother. He last heard his son was looking for a place to stay and was struggling with homelessness. He said his son also experienced mental anguish and depression.
"Things just collapsed very quickly," Nyamusevya said. "To the point that now, I lost him."
He added that his son's dream was to one day join the Columbus Police Department. Bihesi is survived by his parents, two sisters and a brother.
Nyamusevya said he learned his son had been killed from the news media before the authorities called. He was one of four victims shot and killed on a CTA Blue Line train early Monday morning.
The others victims were Adrian Collins, 60, Margaret Miller Johnson, 64, and a 52-year-old man who has not been identified as of Wednesday.
Advocates at Connections for the Homeless say Johnson lived in their "hotel-based shelter during the early days of the pandemic, and was ultimately housed by way of a housing voucher."
The organization added, "We don't know why she was sleeping on a train, but we are reaching out to others who knew her to uncover what happened."
The motive for the shooting was still unclear.