Osmani Munongerwa fanned out a stack of cash, waving it around as he danced in his Facebook profile video Saturday night. It was similar to the photo Munongerwa posted earlier that morning as well as another video the day before, also showing the 20-year-old Nashville man flaunting cash, jewelery and an armload of shopping bags.
Those would be his last posts to the social media website. On Sunday morning, Munongerwa and his mother, Isha Musa, 37, were found shot dead in their Hillside Avenue apartment. Metro Nashville police haven’t determined a motive in the double murder Sunday morning. The department, however, is not ruling out the possibility that Munongerwa’s social media posts may have been a factor.
“We believe that is a social media page depicting him,” said Don Aaron, public affairs manager for Metro police, when asked about a Facebook account under the name “Foreign Breadwinner” that showed the photos and video of Munongerwa.
The last public post to the page, one of the videos of Munongerwa flaunting cash, was at 9:46 p.m. Saturday.
According to Metro police, neighbours told investigators they heard “noises that could have been gunshots” sometime between 9 and 10 a.m. on Sunday.
When family members of Musha came by the Park at Hillside apartment to check on her at 1:45 p.m. same day, police said the back door was ajar. The relatives found Musha dead on the first floor by the foot of the stairs. After Metro officers arrived at the apartment, they found Munongerwa dead upstairs, where multiple shots had been fired, Aaron said.
“A relatively small amount of money compared to what we have seen on social media was found in the apartment,” he said. “We do not know whether he was robbed.” Police are urging the public to think twice before posting similar photos on their online accounts.
“We always advise citizens using social media never to show items of value, certainly including sums of cash that can be connected directly to you by those you know and don’t know who may be going on social media,” Aaron said.
Though Metro police learned Munongerwa was born in California, the department reported in a news release Sunday that the mother and son were believed to be of Zimbabwe. “Part of the investigation will center on the young man’s background, who his friends were and who he was associating with, to help us develop a better picture of what may have been going on in this particular’s family’s life,” Aaron said.
Metro police have “been aware of this young man for years,” Aaron said, based on his juvenile record, which the police department isn’t authorized to discuss.
The investigation is continuing, and no suspect information has yet been released.- Agencies
