A Nigerian aspiring fashion designer living in the United States, Sheriff Shittu, was shot dead inside a Brooklyn nightclub after a confrontation with an intoxicated patron who allegedly groped his girlfriend, his brother has said.
Police reported that the shooting occurred around 4:25 a.m. on Saturday at Quilox Restaurant and Lounge in East Flatbush, located on Church Avenue near 95th Street, when a gunman opened fire inside the venue.
Shittu had visited the club with his younger brother, Fawaz Shittu, to celebrate a friend’s birthday, just one day before their mother was due to arrive from Nigeria.
“I was screaming his name,” Fawaz said while recalling the chaos that followed. “I was trying to wake him up.”
Fawaz explained that the confrontation began after a drunken man started touching women inappropriately, including Shittu’s girlfriend. Sheriff stepped in, which led to a physical altercation.
Disturbed by the incident, the brothers left the club about 45 minutes after arriving, but returned shortly afterward when they realized Sheriff had forgotten his cellphone.
Upon re-entering, the intoxicated man was being escorted out, and the club owner attempted to calm the situation, Fawaz said.
“The owner was saying, ‘Don’t mind that person — he’s a crazy guy’,” Fawaz recounted. “A few seconds later, I heard ‘pow,’ and I looked down and I saw my brother.”
A bartender reportedly attempted CPR on Sheriff as he lay on the floor, while the gunman fled and remains at large.
“He was able to escape,” Fawaz said. “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 responders rushed Sheriff to Brookdale University Hospital, where he later died, though relatives initially kept him on life support hoping for a miracle.
“He has been pronounced dead, but we’re still hoping,” said another brother, Salem Shittu. “We’re holding out with our faith in God.”
Salem described Sheriff as compassionate and protective.
“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 killed a day before his mother, Foluke Shittu, arrived in the U.S. to visit her sons in Far Rockaway, Queens. She learned of his death only after landing.
“My son was a very kind person,” she said. “I love him. We spoke on Friday, and I arrived on Sunday. That’s when they told me.”
Sheriff moved to the United States from Nigeria in 2018 and worked as a security guard while building his fashion label, Riff Ent, which he hoped to expand into a full-scale brand.
“We’re going to keep pushing his brand,” Salem said. “We’re just trying make a way for one another.”
The family says they are praying for justice and closure.
“We want him to get life in prison, the maximum sentence,” Salem said. “If there’s a death penalty in New York, use that.”
