Friends of Annandale homicide victim seek funds to help his mother with funeral costs

From the left: Samuel Njikang, his sister Vanessa, his brother Augustine, and their mother Elizabeth Dayeba.

Samuel Njikang, the 27-year-old man killed outside the Diamond Lounge in Annandale, Oct. 30, is remembered by his close friend Jiji Kerolus as “really nice and very kind.”

Njikang “was always smiling, always happy, and never got into trouble,” says Kerolus, who has known him since they were both students at Annandale High School. “He had such a beautiful soul.” 

“This loss is incomprehensible and words cannot describe what his single-mother, brother, and sister are going through,” states a GoFundMe page set up to help his mother, Elizabeth Dayeba cover the funeral costs. 

According to the Fairfax County Police Department, Njikang was shot in the upper body during an altercation in the Diamond Lounge parking lot, at 7203 Little River Turnpike, after the club closed at 2 a.m. He was taken to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The suspect reportedly drove away. 

Related story: Man fatally shot outside Annandale nightclub

“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Kerolus says. He had been cutting back on going out and was concentrating on his studies. On the night he died, a friend was in town and talked him into going to the Diamond. 

Kerolus urges anyone who was there to contact the police. “That something like this happened in an open parking lot is just so unbelievable,” she says. Witnesses should call the FCPD Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800, option 2, or submit an anonymous tip through Crime Solvers. 

At the time of his murder, Njikang had been living in Woodbridge, worked at a jewelry store, and was a nursing student. He had moved to the U.S. from Cameroon about 14 years ago. He played soccer almost every day and loved going to the gym, Kerolus says. 

She and Samuel used to go to the gym, at LA Fitness in Springfield Mall, every day together. When he didn’t show up on Friday, everyone asked where he was. And when he didn’t respond to her texts, she got very worried. 

Njikang “was beautiful inside and out. His million-dollar smile captivated everyone around him. His grace, his style, his spirit unmatched,” says Chris Meadowcraft, his manager at Reeds Jewelers.

Kerolus says Njinkang was a really good son, and his mother needs financial support, so she urges people to contribute on GoFundMe.