A Nigerian aspiring fashion designer based in the US, Sheriff Shittu was fatally shot at a Brooklyn nightclub following a dispute with a drunk patron who allegedly groped his girlfriend, according to his brother.
Shittu was killed when a gunman opened fire inside Quilox Restaurant and Lounge in East Flatbush on Church Avenue near 95th Street at about 4:25 a.m. Saturday, police said
Shittu had gone to the club with his younger brother, Fawaz Shittu, to celebrate a friend’s birthday, just a day before their mother was scheduled to arrive from Nigeria for a visit.
I was screaming his name,” Fawaz said, recalling the chaotic aftermath of the shooting. “I was trying to wake him up.”
According to Fawaz, the deadly confrontation began when a drunken stranger started touching women inappropriately, including Shittu’s girlfriend. Sheriff intervened, leading to a physical tussle with the man.
The brothers left the club roughly 45 minutes after arriving, disturbed by the situation, Fawaz said.
However, they returned shortly afterward when they realized Sheriff had left his cellphone behind.
When they re-entered the venue, the intoxicated man was being escorted out, and the club’s owner attempted to reassure them, Fawaz recounted.
“The owner was saying, ‘Don’t mind that person — he’s a crazy guy’,” Fawaz said. “A few seconds later, I heard ‘pow,’ and I looked down and I saw my brother.”
A bartender reportedly rushed to perform CPR on Sheriff as he lay motionless on the floor, according to his brother. The gunman fled the scene and remains at large.
He was able to escape,” Fawaz said of the shooter. “I don’t know how that happened or how he got the gun in the club. Security didn’t do its job. They didn’t search. You’re supposed to check people and their bags.”
Emergency medical workers rushed Sheriff to Brookdale University Hospital, where he later died, police said. However, the family initially kept him on life support in hopes of a miracle.
“He has been pronounced dead, but we’re still hoping,” said another brother, Salem Shittu, 24. “We’re holding out with our faith in God.”
Salem described his brother as warm and caring.
“He was a very sweet person, very outgoing,” he said. “He was protective of his family, his friends and his loved ones.”
Tragically, Sheriff was shot just a day before his 60-year-old mother, Foluke Shittu, arrived in the United States for a planned visit to see her sons at their home in Far Rockaway, Queens. She learned about her son’s death only after landing.
“My son was a very kind person,” Foluke said. “I love him. We spoke on Friday, and I arrived on Sunday. That’s when they told me.”
Sheriff immigrated to the United States from Nigeria in 2018. He worked as a security guard while building his own fashion brand, Riff Ent, which he hoped to grow into a full-scale label.
We’re going to keep pushing his brand,” Salem said. “We’re just trying make a way for one another.”
The family said they are praying both for justice and closure.
We want him to get life in prison, the maximum sentence,” Salem said of the suspect. “If there’s a death penalty in New York, use that.”
