My brother, Zarif, 21, chose to end his life on June 28, 2024. He loved music, gaming, working with medicine and spending time with his friends.
I write this days before the four “month-iversary” of the event that changed my life.
He bought a gun legally, even with a background of several hospitalizations for depression. He shot himself as I was minutes away from coming home for a family trip that was supposed to happen the next day.
After spending 12 hours searching for him in the woods behind my house after his suicide text, my friend found his body.
The entire time, during the search, I was thinking there was no way he had a gun. How could someone so easily purchase a weapon like that? Turns out its pretty easy to buy a rifle in the state of Maryland.
I had the bullets returned to me by the police. I keep one on my nightstand as a reminder of my anger towards the system, mental health issues in this country, and as a farewell memento.