Hassan Mustafa Zeidan. Dead this week at 23 years of age. Not of illness, or natural disaster, or accidental injury.

He died, instead, from what looks to be an intentionally inflicted gunshot wound from a fellow basketball player, ostensibly over an argument of some sort. 

What courtside disagreement could have been so important that its resolution required killing?  

Or perhaps it wasn’t that important. Perhaps we should be asking why killing — or any type of violence — was the method chosen to resolve the argument, no matter how critical.

Were drugs involved? Or alcohol? 

Why did the killer have a permit to carry a concealed weapon?  He had time to think about what he was doing. He left the basketball court and went to his car for his gun. He did not appear to be using the gun for self-defense.

All these questions and more need to be asked and answered.

And for a community drowning in grief, there must be the realization that Arab or not, religious or not, our children are all at risk for the societal ills of drugs, alcohol, indiscriminate sex and violence. Our community is not only at risk, but may indeed have additional problems stemming from its immigrant roots, generational disconnect, discrimination and cultural conflict. 

This is a time for leadership. This is a time for the leaders of our community to realize that “we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Our children need to be guided from within the context of the world they now occupy, not the world in which their ancestors lived and grew. 

Our hearts go out to the families and friends of Hassan Mustafa Zeidan and to all those tragically affected by this incident.