Update: The story below was written before this young man died. He died
today.
College student in coma after carjacking attack

Saturday, October 04, 2003
By Kasi Addison and Kevin Dilworth
Newhouse News Service

When Nabeel Siddiqui arrived in America eight years ago from Pakistan, he had
a plan: Graduate with honors from the New Jersey Institute of Technology,
work for a couple of years as a computer programmer and eventually bring his
mother, father and younger sister to join him in his new home in Kearny.

"He was so ready for it," said his cousin Asim Khan of Westchester, N.Y. "He
was the only son of his parents, and they gave up so much to pay for (his)
education. He wanted to repay that."

But now Khan worries whether Siddiqui will ever have that chance.

Siddiqui, 24, is in critical condition in a coma at University Hospital in
Newark after being attacked by three teenagers during a carjacking Saturday
night in Orange, according to hospital spokesman Rogers Ramsey and police.

Friends of Siddiqui's - known for his small stature of 5 feet 2 inches and
120 pounds and his love of Starbucks mocha Frappuccinos and his electric guitar
- said they're upset at the Orange police for waiting three days before
releasing any information to the media about the brutal attack.

"We were hoping to get a little more support from Orange officials, but
nothing," said Omar Mohammed, a pharmacist and friend of Siddiqui's. "(The
inaction) just totally makes you feel like you're nothing."

Police said it appeared that three teens used a false pizza order to lure
Siddiqui, who was working as a pizza deliveryman while looking for a permanent
job, to Haxtun Avenue, an upscale residential street near the U.S. Veterans
Administration Medical Center.

Siddiqui was hit in the head with a baseball bat, and his silver 1995 Nissan
Altima was stolen, police said. He was found about 9:45 p.m., lying in the
street, semiconscious and bleeding from his head, said Lt. Kevin Sooy.

Only the car was taken, Sooy said. Siddiqui's wallet, containing $30, his
college identification and numerous credit cards, was found at the scene.

Police said they are not sure if Siddiqui was attacked before or while he was
making the delivery, but that they believed the attack was planned. Sooy said
Siddiqui's car was recovered by South Orange police on Hamilton Street, a
half-mile away.

Police have arrested two teens in Orange, a 16-year-old on Sunday and a
17-year-old on Monday, and another 16-year-old suspect Tuesday in his Woodbridge
home. All three remain in the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center in Newark,
pending juvenile court actions on the crimes for which they've been accused,
Sooy said.

The three suspects face aggravated assault, robbery, possession of a weapon
and carjacking charges, police said.

NJIT officials also were baffled as to why the attacks weren't reported
before Tuesday. Spokeswoman Gail Scott said she first read about Siddiqu  at a Web
site called paknews.com where a story headlined "Pakistani Beaten Severely By
Gangsters in New Jersey" was posted Tuesday.

Since finding out about the attack, family and friends have gathered at the
hospital to comfort one another and take turns sitting with Siddiqui, who
majored in computer science and graduated from NJIT in May.

"He is extremely popular. Just look at all the people here to see him," said
friend Talha Abbasi, gesturing around the waiting room.

But his friends said the two people most missed in the crowd were his
parents, Atiq and Husna Siddiqui, who live in Karachi, Pakistan.

Their trip to see their son has been complicated by his mother's expired
passport and his father's inability to get a visa. Family members are hoping that
the U.S. Consulate in Pakistan will expedite the paperwork so the couple can
take the 20-hour, $3,500-per person flight.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
said that since the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, it has been very difficult
for people from Muslim countries to get visas.

"It can take months now, from my understanding, and that is if you ever get a
visa," he said, adding that his organization has offered to work with the
family to speed up the process.

Aside from the visa issues, there is also the question of financial
assistance, Mohammed said. Siddiqui was sending money to his parents in Pakistan,
Mohammed said, so he and his brother, Osman Mohammed, are trying to rally financial
support for their friend and his parents.

Richard Pompelio, chairman of the Newark-based New Jersey Victim's Crime
Compensation Board in Newark, said he plans to help the brothers apply for aid.

"I'm going to try and figure out something," Pompelio said. "This poor kid.
This is just terrible. There's no doubt in my mind that they (Siddiqui's
parents) are going to be entitled to the loss of his support. We're going to do this
thing fast."

In the meantime, his friends and classmates are Siddiqui's family, said
Furqan Elahi, who like Siddiqui belongs to NJIT's Pakistani Student Association.

"We foreign students are all alone here, and our friends are all we have
right now," he said.
Update:
NEW YORK: Nabeel Siddiqui, 24, a computer science major who graduated from
NJIT this summer, died few minutes ago (4:55pm, Oct 6th, 2003) at the University
of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's University Hospital in Newark
following an assault Saturday, September 27th.
Nabeel suffered brutal neurological injuries and trauma which caused severe
damage to different parts of his brain.
He was attacked on Haxtun Avenue in Orange, NJ, while delivering a pizza to
an address there. According to the police report, the resident of that address
was not home at the time of the attack and later told police no one there had
ordered a pizza.

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