San Jose Mercury News
By Patty Fisher, Mercury News Columnist

Ethiopian voyage of discovery went so very wrong for young Santa Clara athlete and student

Posted: 01/20/2011 06:42:15 PM PST

The first time Arefany Wynn traveled the 9,000 miles from California to Ethiopia, he loved the country and received such a warm welcome from the people of his mother’s homeland that he promised to return.

But on his second visit, the 20-year-old Santa Clara athlete and student got a very different welcome. One night, an uncle was showing his American nephew the night life in the upscale Bole Road district of Addis Ababa. But when they walked into a club and a fight broke out, the two men decided to leave.

As they started to drive away, a police officer came out of the club after them. Young Arefany, riding in the back seat, turned around to see what was happening — just as the officer fired his AK-47 at the car, sending a bullet into the young man’s side and through his body. He died on the way to the hospital.

Watch:

Now Arefany’s anguished family is observing the Ethiopian 40-day mourning period, and they are desperately in search of answers. They want to know whether the police officer, whom witnesses say shot the young man, will be charged with a crime. They want to know why the body was shipped home without being embalmed, and where they will find money for funeral expenses.

But, most of all, they want to know why this gentle young man, a San Jose City College student who journeyed halfway around the world to immerse himself in Ethiopian culture, was taken from them so suddenly, so tragically.

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