NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – It’s a father’s worst nightmare. A routine phone call before work turned into a tragedy.

“Dad, this gentleman got me boxed in. I am trying to go to work. Sir, can you move your car? Then the gentleman pulled a gun and stuck it in his face. Will you move the gun out of my face, sir? Pow, that quick,” community activist Bilal Muhammad said, recounting to 10 On Your Side what he heard over the phone.

33-year-old Ali Muhammad was shot and killed outside his Ocean View apartment last Thursday.

His father, Bilal Muhammad describes his son as protective.

Ali was named after the boxer Muhammad Ali. Muhammad said he didn’t have the same boxing skills, but he had the same compassion as the famous boxer.

“Ali was so loving and so humble,” Muhammad said.

That’s why he was always by his dad’s side in the community to stop the violence.

The Stop the Violence Team started after Muhammad’s brother died.

“That really stuck with me,” he said.

Recently, Ali was stepping up in the organization.

“We was preparing him to take more responsibility in Stop the Violence Team,” Muhammad said.

Now, Muhammad is living with a similar pain after losing his son to gun violence.

“Now, we lose our baby boy, Ali Kareem Muhammad behind gun violence again,” Muhammad said. “Parents are burying their children. Parents shouldn’t have to bury their children.” 

Muhammad said what happened wasn’t a random attack.

“We believe this was planned. We strongly believe our son was set up. Our son was set up. He had a confrontation with residents in this area,” he said.

Muhammad said Ali received threats.

“She threatened our son that this was not the end. That there would be something else and there would be retaliation behind this. A week later, a week and a half later, our son is gone,” he said.

Muhammad believes someone knows something and he wants them to step up.

“All of this was planned. The residents know and they are being silent about it, so we are asking the community to come forward,” he said.

If you have any information that could help solve this case, call 1-888-LOCK-U-UP or submit a tip through the P3TIPS app.