‘Really soft, nice person’ from Kenya among slain victims in West Broadway mass shooting

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This article was published 28/11/2023 (705 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Kenyan man who was shot to death Sunday inside a West Broadway home studied biology at the University of Manitoba before briefly going missing in recent years.

Melelek Leseri Lesikel, 29, was slain along with three others during a mass shooting at 143 Langside St. A fifth victim was critically injured and remains in hospital.

“He was a really soft, nice person. He was very friendly and had a smile always on his face,” said Nosherwan Khilji, Lesikel’s friend and former roommate.

“He was always very polite.”

Khilji, who now lives in B.C., said he last spoke with Lesikel about 10 months ago.

The men lived together in 2014, when they were both students in Winnipeg.

The last time they spoke, Lesikel told Khilji he had completed a bachelor of sciences degree and had applied to become a permanent resident of Canada. He said he previously worked at a local call centre, and was living on his own in an apartment in the Earl Grey neighbourhood.

The Free Press was unable to independently verify the information.

“He said everything was going good,” said Khilji, who was stunned to learn of the death Tuesday.

Another friend confirmed Lesikel was a member of the University of Manitoba Campus Liberals in 2017.

Pamela Obonde, president of the Kenya Association of Manitoba, said Lesikel has one brother in the United States and other family in Kenya.

She did not know him personally, but members of the Kenyan community are in contact with his family and are hoping to speak on their behalf in the coming days.

“As a community we are trying to put our heads together to see how we are going to respond to this,” Obonde said.

Former association president Sam Aguko spoke with Lesikel’s mother sometime around 2021 or 2022, when he was still leading the community group.

At the time, Lesikel was missing in Winnipeg, and his family had reached out for help in finding him, Aguko said.

“We tried our best to find him, but we never found him. Then his mom came to Winnipeg and he reappeared,” he said. “They were able to connect and she went home with him back to Kenya.”

The ordeal lasted “a few weeks,” he said.

Aguko never met Lesikel, but said he was known to at least some members of the city’s Kenyan community.

“We have a very good network and community here in Winnipeg and we always have activities, especially in the summer. We meet, we know each other, but some of the young guys choose to do it on their own… so they don’t really connect with the community,” he said.

“It’s very difficult on your own. Nobody survives on their own. You need people, you need certain connections.”

A Free Press review of court records shows Lesikel had no criminal history in Manitoba.

Like Khilji, Aguko was shocked to learn of the slaying.

“To be honest, I was surprised that he was in Winnipeg. All along, I thought he was back in Kenya and he was never coming back,” he said.

“Very few people, if any, knew he was back in Winnipeg.”

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca