When Yusor Abu-Salha was was killed in February 2015, her entire community was shocked and heartbroken.
Yusor was born in Jordan and immigrated to the United States with her family as an infant. The 21-year-old was a practicing Muslim living in North Carolina, so she said she sometimes felt like she stuck out. But she felt perfectly at home most of the time, deeply rooted in both her faith and community.
Yusor (right) with her former teacher and principal, Sister Mussarut Jabeen. Photo via StoryCorps.
Yusor was kind, compassionate, and known for her generosity.
“She had this sense of giving that really makes her different from other children,” her third-grade teacher and former principal Mussarut Jabeen said.
Despite all of this, in September 2015, Yusor, her husband Deah Barakat, 23, and her sister Rezan Abu-Salha, 19, were tragically gunned down inside Yusor and Deah’s Chapel Hill, North Carolina, apartment.
But just months before her death, Yusor had joined Mussarut to record an interview for StoryCorps.
They shared memories from the third grade classroom, and Yusor shared how grateful she was that she had been raised in the United States.
Following the heinous incident, Mussarut, who knew Yusor, Deah, and Razan, returned to StoryCorps to share memories of her fallen students.
“I would like people to know and remember [Yusor] as a practicing Muslim, as a daughter, and above all, as a good human being.”
