Family, friends remember man murdered while being driven home from work in McKeesport
Mackenzie Bucciarelli worked with Ibrahim Diallo at the Wendy’s in White Oak and described her friend as goofy, kind and outgoing. She tells Channel 11 she is still in shock over his murder.
“It’s like a horrible dream you can’t wake up from,” Bucciarelli tells Channel 11. “He wouldn’t hurt anyone, anything. That’s what’s so shocking, because why him.”
Diallo, who is 20 years old, was murdered Friday morning, shot while he was being driven home from work at that Wendy’s by another manager.
Police say Tyrique Simmons was stalking his ex-girlfriend and didn’t like that she was with Diallo. Police say Simmons showed up at Wendy’s to harass her several times Thursday night and then waited outside. When she left work to drive three employees including Diallo home, she told police that Simmons followed her.
According to court paperwork, she dropped off two employees and Simmons started ramming her car in McKeesport before getting out and firing three shots at the passenger side window. Diallo was hit.
“If I was in that situation, I don’t know what I’d do,” Bucciarelli said. “The person I love is next to me and I’m here.”
Police say she tried to drive away, but Simmons continued chasing and ramming her car until she crashed into a hair salon in Versailles. According to court paperwork, she told police that Simmons said, “I told you not to drive them home,” then yelled at and spit on Diallo who was already dead.
“The anger and jealousy people have in them to literally take someone else’s life is absolutely crazy and ridiculous,” Bucciarelli said.
Bucciarelli says she’ll never forget her friend and his beaming smile. He even encouraged her to graduate from high school and enroll in nursing school.
“He made us feel like one big family. We had our own group — club Wendy’s. He’ll always have a place in my heart and in our club Wendy’s group.”
Police say that after committing the crime, Simmons drove himself to the White Oak Police Department to turn himself in. Police say his hands, shirt and shoes were covered in blood. Simmons is currently locked up in the Allegheny County Jail without bail.
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