West Bloomfield

Community reaches out to family of slain WB man

By Eric Czarnik
C & G Staff Writer

Photo provided by the Chaldean Community Foundation Samir Hannawa

WEST BLOOMFIELD — The local Chaldean community is reaching out to a family of seven children after their father, a West Bloomfield man, was reportedly shot dead Nov. 7 while visiting a Detroit collision shop.

According to the Detroit Police Department’s Office of Public Information, Samir Hannawa was shot at about 1:10 p.m. by the intersection of Wyoming and Intervale. Police said the circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation, and they did not have any additional information to give about any suspect.

Hannawa’s eldest daughter, 18-year-old Athraa Hannawa, attended a memorial and vigil with supporters at St. Thomas Chaldean Catholic Church in West Bloomfield Nov. 12. She said the event brought together the whole community as friends, family and even people she didn’t know visited to show their support.

“It was peaceful,” she said. “My dad, he was an easygoing guy — funny, smart, hardworking. It was just content, bringing peace to us, making us say our final goodbye with our friends and family.”

Hannawa, 49, grew up in Iraq and moved to the U.S. in 2000. He managed a store called Alcapone Market in Detroit, and he is survived by his wife, Nada, and seven children.

Athraa said her father was visiting the collision shop to check up on his cousin’s car, when he was shot in the chest. While he reportedly was able to alert others nearby, he died despite emergency workers taking him to Sinai Grace Hospital in Detroit.

Athraa called the shooting a senseless crime and added that the shooter didn’t take anything. She asked anyone with knowledge of the shooting to come forward so that future tragedies won’t happen to other families.

“It’s hard because we’re used to waking up in the morning, seeing him getting ready for work,” she said. “I’m going to miss seeing his smile and his laugh because he had an awesome laugh.”

Eric Younan from the Chaldean Community Foundation said his group is raising money to help Hannawa’s kids. The foundation is also preparing an advocacy fund to enhance Crime Stoppers’ reward for information that leads to the suspect’s arrest.

“Anytime someone in our community is murdered, it affects us all,” he said. “We’re a small minority here. It’s a close-knit community.”

To learn more about making a donation to the Chaldean Community Foundation, visit www.chaldeanfoundation.org or call (248) 996-8340. Anyone with tips regarding the shooting may call Crime Stoppers at (800) SPEAK-UP.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Eric Czarnik at eczarnik@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1058.