The would-be bride knelt and cried beside the grave of her fiancé on Sunday.
On what was to have been their wedding weekend, she wore her ivory chiffon wedding dress. Its sequined bodice glistened in the sun as she sobbed.
The love of Sara Baluch’s life, 24-year-old Mohammad Sharifi, didn’t live long enough to make the wedding. He was shot and killed about three weeks ago in the parking lot of a Hixson Pike apartment complex while trying to sell his Xbox One gaming system, which he had listed on Facebook Marketplace. A 20-year-old has been charged with criminal homicide and aggravated robbery.
Sharifi’s death was one of 83 in Tennessee’s 312 shooting incidents this year alone, according to gunviolencearchive.org. In the database, an incident is defined as any shooting – criminal, accidental or suicidal. Nationally, there have been 9,462 incidents – and 2,586 deaths – from Jan. 1 through mid-day Monday.
Imagine the tears shed by people such as Sara Baluch by the end of the year.