Family and friends identify Palm Springs homicide victim, calling death ‘devastating’
The family and friends of a 27-year-old Cathedral City man who was killed in Palm Springs Tuesday are speaking out.
Police say around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, a car crashed into a brick wall at the intersection of Rosa Parks and Granada. Officers found a man dead in the drivers seat with gunshot wounds.
Family and friends of the victim say it is Stephen Maithya Kathale, a 27-year-old from Kenya who lived in Cathedral City, though police have not confirmed the victim’s identity.
Kathale moved to the U.S. last year from Kenya, recently completing a course and working in the nursing field.
His friend of 10 years from Kenya, James Okungu, told KESQ & CBS Local 2 reporter Jake Ingrassia Kathale’s family in Kenya is in shock.
“They’re very sad, as you can imagine,” Okungu said. “They were very hopeful for Stephen’s future here. His family comes from a very small family that’s a struggling family and so they had to sacrifice a lot get him here to the States and he was just beginning to see the fruits of the hard work he put in — in school, he just got a new job, and they were all very excited for his future so it’s devastating on a lot of levels for them.”
Friends and family of Stephen have created a GoFundMe page for his funeral expenses. The campaign had raised $1,160 toward its $10,000 goal at the time of this publication.
More on this story tonight on KESQ at 5 p.m. and CBS Local 2 at 6:30 p.m.
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