Ghana man assassination likely a "mistaken identity"

Augustine Nyantakyi, the Ghanaian man who died in a hail of bullets in Amsterdam's Osdorp neighborhood early Thursday morning was probably the victim of mistaken identity it seems.

People in the 37-year-old man’s circles say Nyantakyi was church-going and level-headed. He worked as a dishwasher at De Plantage restaurant near Artis, a job that had him working nights since it opened last September. He worshipped loyally at Jesus Christ Foundation Church in Amsterdam Zuidoost. In Ghanaian circles, he was called Kwabena, a name given to boys born on Fridays.

He had moved here two years ago, following his father from the Afigya-Kwabre-district in central Ghana, in the Ashanti region. He married a Ghanaian woman, but since a few months he was seeing a woman who lived at Wolbrantskerkweg.

It was her house he was leaving when the shooter emptied a machine gun on him around 2:20 am. He died in the hall, despite attempts by others to save his life.

Detectives are now left asking the same questions his relatives and friends are asking: was he the victim of a mistaken-identity-shooting or was he living a double life? For now though, his Facebook page and reactions from his inner circle paint a rosy picture of the latest victim of gun violence in the city.