In the summer of 2017, a quiet apartment complex in Springdale, Arkansas, became the scene of a tragic event that cut short the life of a young man. Daniel Rwabuzisoni, a 21-year-old male from Burundi, was found deceased on the evening of July 17th. The discovery was made at the Chapel Ridge Apartments on North Oak Street, where he resided with roommates. The tranquility of the evening was shattered when police were called to the scene around 8 p.m.
following reports of a shooting.
Upon their arrival, officers were met with a grim discovery. Inside one of the apartments, they found Daniel lifeless on a bathroom floor, having sustained multiple gunshot wounds and other injuries to his head and torso. The initial investigation quickly pointed towards his 23-year-old roommate, Mei Ka Sin, originally from Burma, as the primary suspect. However, Sin was nowhere to be found, having fled the scene before the authorities arrived. The motive for the fatal altercation was not immediately clear.
The search for Mei Ka Sin concluded the following day when he turned himself in to the Springdale Police. He was taken into custody by officers and U.S. Marshals at the very same apartment complex where the incident had occurred. During questioning, Sin claimed that he had shot his roommate in an act of self-defense, stating he believed Daniel was armed. However, investigators found no weapon on the victim. A weapon believed to have been used in the shooting was recovered from the apartment and sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for analysis.
Initially charged with capital murder, Mei Ka Sin later entered into a plea agreement in April 2019. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of first-degree murder. As a result of his plea, he was sentenced to 20 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction, with 15 of those years suspended. At the time of his sentencing, he was given credit for the 629 days he had already spent in jail since his arrest.
