On Saturday night, someone tragically stabbed Kamir Abou Najm, a 20-year-old ambitious software engineer who had an exceptional academic career that included internships and research work. He was set to graduate from UC Davis next month. His father, a university professor, stated that he already had two positions lined up and was ready to start his professional career in a couple of weeks.
What Happened to Karim Abou Najm?
The Yolo County Coroner’s Office identified Karim Abou Najm as the man discovered with numerous stab wounds in Sycamore Park soon after 9 p.m. Saturday, following a 911 call reporting a disagreement. It was the city’s second fatal park stabbing in three days. The first killed 50-year-old David Henry Breaux, a well-known local character known as the “Compassion Guy,” in Central Park on Thursday morning.
The UC Davis student’s father, Majdi Abou Najm, said his son was on his way home Saturday night, taking a familiar path through the park. His kid had been on campus for a student research project presentation on Saturday and had spent time with friends before deciding to return home. He has no idea what prompted the attack on his kid. The Abou Najm family welcomed heartbroken relatives and friends into their house on Monday as they prepared for the young man’s burial.
A Very Bright Kid
“He was just six weeks away from graduation,” the father said to The Sacramento Bee. “It’s heartbreaking. Majdi Abou Najm, an associate professor of soil biophysics at UC Davis, said that approximately 50 individuals at the campus have emailed him, indicating that they are planning Kamir Abou Najm’s departure rather than attending his graduation. The father stated that his son affected many people’s lives by serving as a mentor to those who needed assistance with job interviewing skills, arithmetic, and computer science. He stated that his son worked hard while still having fun. “Karim was an exceptional talent,” he said. “He was a kinetic bundle of energy.”
Who is Kamir Abou Najm?
Majdi Abou Najm, the father of Kamir Abou Najm, claimed his son already had two jobs lined up for after graduation; including a startup firm where he would concentrate on creating voice recognition technology for smart glasses. People with hearing impairments would benefit from the technology. According to university authorities, his father, and his LinkedIn page; Karim Abou Najm graduated from Davis High School in 2020 and is expected to graduate; from UC Davis this June with a bachelor’s degree in computer technology.
In addition to that, his LinkedIn page indicated that he was “deeply involved in computational neuroscience research” and worked at Lee Miller’s Speech neuroengineering and Cybernetics Laboratory. “By all accounts, he was an exceptional student, son, and friend,” said Chancellor Gary S. May in a letter to the UC Davis community on Sunday. According to his LinkedIn page, Abou Najm most recently began work in March as a software developer for XRAI Glass; a software firm attempting to develop augmented reality glasses that can show subtitles for the deaf or hearing challenged.
More From The Police Officers
On Monday, a Yolo County Sheriff’s Office search-and-rescue team; was investigating Sycamore Park for new clues that may assist identify a suspect. Authorities are seeking a male aged 19 to 23 and standing 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-8; as a possible suspect in Abou Najm’s killing. Witnesses described the suspect as a “light-skinned male, possibly Hispanic,” with “long curly loose hair”. However, the suspect was last seen wearing a white hat and a light-colored T-shirt beneath a button-up shirt. Besides that, the suspect was riding a men’s bike with straight handlebars, according to police.
Moreover, investigators were searching for tangible evidence linked to the stabbing at the park on Monday; as detectives continued to follow up on tips from the public. On Sunday, Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel told the Davis Enterprise that there were several parallels between the deaths; including the park settings and the “brutal manner” of the knife assaults; and that “at this point, we have to investigate them as linked, and we are doing so.”
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