WAKE COUNTY: The family of a teenager murdered in his neighbor's front yard in 2000 has raised the reward to $75,000 in the hopes of solving this drive-by shooting.
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Omar Husein, Usama's brother, told NC WANTED that he believes there are still people out there who have information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for his brother's death. He hopes a higher reward will convince those people to come forward.
"Hopefully we’ll have somebody step up soon, so we can close this case and have some kind of peace of mind," Omar Husein said.
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When Usama Husein’s parents pulled into their driveway on a rainy Friday night in April of 2000, they thought their son was on his way to Myrtle Beach. He was lying dead in a ditch in their neighbors’ front yard.
Usama was talking on his cell phone to a friend when the line went dead. She never heard the shots.
“Usama was really energetic and fun and just, you know, very funny,” said friend Todd Faucette, “a very likable guy.”
Todd and Usama had been friends since sixth grade; they were sophomores at Millbrook High School in Raleigh when Usama was gunned down.
The boys skipped school on Friday, April 14, 2000, and were going to leave early Saturday morning for a week at the beach. It was spring break.
Still, family members say Usama was a serious student and hoped one day to be a businessman, just like his father. He was good at math, and wanted to go to NC State, where his two older brothers attended.
Usama was from a white-collar family, and he lived in an upscale neighborhood off of Six Forks Road. Police couldn’t remember the last time they were called to the area for a shooting, and this one was a drive-by.
Despite Usama’s well-to-do upbringing, he had a past that defied suburban stereotypes. At 15, the youth was charged with underage drinking. Nine months before his death, he was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, simple assault and destruction of personal property.
It happened at a party; Todd remembers there was some type of altercation – several people were involved and things got out of hand.
“I guess there were some other people that got charged that same night for that fight,” said Omar Husein, Usama’s older brother. “From what I understand, there were a lot of people at that house and it was a big fight. I guess Usama just stood out that night.”
When Usama was killed he was standing alone, waiting at the end of his driveway for a friend to pick him up so they could go to the beach in the morning. The best investigators have been able to piece together, a car drove slowly through the cul-de-sac in front of Usama’s house, headlights off. He was hit four times – in the leg, right hand, left arm and the chest with a high-powered assault rifle.
His parents returned home from a dinner party within 30 minutes, but they didn’t think anything of it when he wasn’t home. They never saw that his overnight bag was still lying on his bed. His friend came by to pick him up, even knocked on the door, but he gave up after a few minutes and left.
While it happened, a crowd of party-goers next door stood outside smoking cigarettes and talking. There were about 30 potential witnesses, but among all of their statements police are left with little more than Usama’s killers drove a dark-colored sedan. They thought the gunshots were fireworks and thought little of it.
A neighbor found the teenager the next morning while out for her daily jog. By the time police finished processing the scene, nearly 100 of Usama’s friends and family members crowded around the scene.
His killers didn’t want money – Usama was wearing jewelry and was carrying cash and it’s unlikely his murderer ever stopped the car, much less got out. Family and investigators agree the incident likely was prompted by feelings of revenge.
“We do believe that this is revenge from a prior fight that had happened within the year before his murder,” Omar said. “I cannot say where or what groups it involved.”
For seven years, investigators and family members have hoped that someone with details on who killed Usama and the feelings that prompted the murder would come forward. No one has.
In April, the family upped the reward for information leading to an arrest to $50,000 and vows to raise the reward again if this attempt is not fruitful.
Police are confident that one day, this murder will be solved.
In the meantime, family and friends wonder who Usama would be today.
“I think he’d be a very successful person,” said Todd. “Married with kids of his own…there’s no telling – sky’s the limit. He could have made anything out of his life he wanted to.”
