Hussain Saeed Alnahdi (UW-Stout on Facebook)
A community is pleading for answers after a University of Wisconsin-Stout student died after he was injured in a weekend assault.
Menomonie police offered a $20,000 reward Thursday for any information in the murder of Hussain Saeed Alnahdi, according to the New York Times. The 24-year-old was attacked at around 2 a.m. Sunday outside a pizza place near the campus. He died at an Eau Claire hospital Monday.
Police were called to the scene and found an unconscious man bleeding from his mouth and nose. Witnesses told police that the victim had been assaulted by a white man who seemed to be about 6 feet tall. The man apparently fled the scene before police arrived.
Alnahdi was from Buraydah, Saudi Arabia and a junior majoring in business administration, Chancellor Bob Meyer said in a letter.
“Our deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers go out to Hussain’s family in Buraydah, Saudi Arabia, and his friends at UW-Stout,” Meyer said. “I want to make a personal appeal to anyone on campus or in the community who might have information that would help authorities locate the individual involved in the attack to come forward.”
His first year at UW-Stout was in 2015, according to Fox 6 Now. Meyer also pleaded with the community to come through with information in the man’s death.
The killing had left the small college community shaken and in fear the attack may have been racially motivated. About 9,600 students attend UW-Stout, about 142 of them from Saudi Arabia, according to the Times.
“There is more fear, especially because we don’t know who the assailant is,” Michael Lee, an international student adviser, told the paper. “It was an extremely rare, almost-unheard-of event.”
Assistant English and philosophy professor Genesea M. Carter told The Washington Post that she was worried for her Saudi students’ safety.
Police haven’t identified a suspect or released motive in the fatal beating. They’re treating it as a homicide.
Overall, the city has raised $20,000 to be used as a reward to bring the culprit to justice. Meyer and Menomonie Police Chief Eric Atkinson raised $15,000. The Council of American-Islamic Relations contributed $5,000.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
