Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov’s sisters spent hours trying to reach their brother after they learned about the on-campus shooting. They reached out to his friends on Instagram to see wheteher they knew where he was, Rukhsora Umurzokova, 22, his older sister, told NBC News.
“We realized that we were looking at the news and reading two people dead and eight people shot without even realizing that we’re, like, reading this about our brother,” she said. “We didn’t even know. We don’t want him to end up being a number. We want everyone to see his face. We want everyone to know his name.”
She learned around midnight that her younger brother had joined a friend for a review session, even though Umurzokov wasn’t in the class. They called hospitals and the university hotline, and eventually the school’s vice president called her back, she said.
“This was around, like, 2:30 a.m. in the morning, and they informed me that my brother was killed,” Rukhsora Umurzokova said.
Her parents had left that morning for a family trip for Umrah in Saudi Arabia. Once they learned the news, they immediately changed their plans and boarded a flight to New York. Rukhsora Umurzokova said she has yet to see her parents, who drove straight to Rhode Island this morning to take their son home to Virginia for an Islamic burial.
Growing up, her brother was always pegged as the smart one in the family, she said. She remembered him memorizing different types of dinosaurs, countries and capitals. He grew up to become a dedicated student who took numerous Advanced Placement courses and was involved in extracurricular activities.
“We always joked, like, oh, he’s the smartest,” she said. “He has, like, the biggest head. … He just loved learning.”
He wanted to become a neurosurgeon, inspired by the doctor who operated on him as a child, Rukhsora Umurzokova said. Her brother had fluid build-up in his brain that sometimes impaired his ability to walk.
“All he wanted was just like, ‘I want to be a doctor. I want to help people,’” she said. “That was his life goal, life dream.”
Rukhsora Umurzokova’s brother had a “huge personality” and could talk to anyone for hours. He was a young man with big ambitions who was excited to see his 5-month-old niece over break and celebrate Eid al-Fitr in a few months.
“It’s just scary knowing that someone who was so happy and, like, just basically just disappeared, just in one second, almost,” she said.
