Dale City, Va. - Mohammad Wali hoped to study criminology after graduating from Freedom High School, maybe at George Mason University or Northern Virginia Community College.
He loved the Washington Redskins, and his six-pack abs were a testament to his weightlifting prowess, his brother said Saturday.
Those are a few memories 18-year-old Noor Wali shared one day after his sibling died in a two-car crash on Dale Boulevard near Interstate 95 in Dale City.
Prince William County police said the 19-year-old Mohammad Wali was speeding when he lost control of his 2005 Honda Civic about 3:15 Friday afternoon.
The eastbound Civic crossed the median, where it collided with a westbound van carrying a woman and her 4-year-old daughter.
On Saturday, though, Noor Wali spoke about his brother's life rather than the crash.
The Wali family moved to Woodbridge a little more than a year ago from Alexandria, he said.
Mohammad Wali, the second-youngest of seven children, needed one more English night class to get his diploma from Freedom. He would have taken his final exam Monday.
Noor Wali should have been a junior at Freedom, but he's been taking night classes, too. His plan was to finish high school this year and share a graduation date with his brother.
"We were going to sit together," Wali said.
Hailing from Afghanistan, most of the family has been in the U.S. since December 2001, Wali said.
Their father, Shah, is a food vendor, selling hot dogs and other treats on the street in Washington.
"People like his half-smokes a lot, you know," Noor Wali said, mentioning the District of Columbia culinary favorite.
He said his brother's death was the first family passing that he had experienced. And his parents have been taking the loss pretty hard, as well.
"My parents have never seen such a horrible thing like this," he said.
Wali said his brother was quiet but athletic. When Mohammad Wali was in the eighth grade, Noor Wali said, he was able to run track with the high schoolers at T.C. Williams in Alexandria.
For the past few months, Mohammad Wali had worked at the AMC movie theater at Potomac Mills mall, Noor Wali said, and he was a loving uncle to his niece, Isra, who will be a year old next month.
"He was a quiet, humble man," Wali said, "handsome ... handsome-looking, stylish."
Staff writer Jonathan Hunley can be reached at 703-369-5738.
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