ESSEX, Md. — In 2005, a local family arrived in America from war-torn South Sudan. Now, their son is dead at the age of 22 after he was shot in Baltimore County, and that family is pleading for the public's help to get justice.
Philip Pasingda, 22, was identified as the victim in a double shooting in Essex the day before Thanksgiving.
READ MORE: Double shooting in Essex leaves one man dead, another person wounded
James Pasingda, Philip's father, Ayak Deng, his mother, and Peter Abdalla, his uncle, spoke with WMAR on Thursday evening, 8 days after Philip's death.
"It's very painful," Deng said, "But I ask God to keep me strong."
Last Wednesday, Deng raced from work to Hopkins Bayview Hospital in an Uber to see her son.
"I was inside the Uber with the Uber driver," Deng recalled, "I was crying, the Uber driver was calming me down. Saying ma'am, everything's going to be okay. Just hold yourself. Be strong. Be strong."
The family told WMAR they left South Sudan nearly twenty years ago, with hopes America would be a safer place. Now, their son is a victim of American gun violence - dead at 22.
"We came from a place with war," Abdalla said, "and when we came here expecting some safety, some security and all these things - only to lose one of our [children], it's very painful."
Members of Pasingda's family tell WMAR they still don't know what led up to their son's death, and is seeking justice, hoping the public can provide police with more information.
Philip, they told WMAR, had come home for the holiday and was visiting his younger brother in another Essex neighborhood. The family said they do not know the other 19-year-old victim, who survived.
"I came a long way with these kids," Deng described, "for a better life when I came here, so they can have a good life and go to school. Be a better person. Because we come from a country from war, I didn't know that something like this would happen. So it hurt me a lot."
Now, this family has a plea: stop this senseless violence, and help Baltimore County Police with any details they have to give.
"We just need somebody to say something," said James Pasingda, Philip's father, "if he sees something, because this is a human being, and just too young."
Baltimore County Police did not return a request for an update in the case Thursday.
