Ennis Cosby was shot dead by Mikhail Markhasev during an attempted robbery after he stopped his automobile to fix a flat tire on a Los Angeles motorway.

Ennis Cosby’s dyslexia wasn’t formally identified until he was a college student. He committed to helping future students with learning challenges.

By the 1990s, Bill Cosby was still considered as one of America’s funniest men, untarnished by later controversies. Ennis Cosby, the legendary comedian’s only child, was shot and killed in Los Angeles while having his tire changed, which was a tremendous sorrow for him.

Ennis suffered a flat tire while on vacation in Los Angeles. Ennis helped Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show and provided his father with endless material for laughs. He was trying to alter it when Mikhail Markhasev, 18, tried to rob him but shot him instead.

In the tragic wake of his passing, the Cosby family assigned two persons to blame. Although Markhasev had fired the fatal shot that killed Ennis, they claimed that American racism had been the driving force behind the murderous act.

The sole kid of the disgraced former “America’s Dad” is Ennis Cosby, whose life and death are chronicled in this tragic narrative.

The moment Ennis William Cosby was born on April 15, 1969, his father noticed him. Bill Cosby, a well-known comedian, fervently desired a son as their third kid despite the fact that he and his wife Camille already had two daughters.

Bill, who was overjoyed to have a son, often made jokes about his interactions with Ennis. Also, when Bill co-created The Cosby Show, which ran from 1984 to 1992, he based his own child, Ennis Cosby, on Theo Huxtable.

The Los Angeles Times claims that Bill depicted Theo Huxtable as a struggling learner who eventually overcame his issue by adding Ennis’s difficulties with dyslexia into the curriculum.

Ennis Cosby’s life actually took place just like that. Following a dyslexia diagnosis, Cosby started attending specialized programs. His academic achievements led to him transferring from Morehouse College in Atlanta to Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Bill Cosby’s kid was considering a special education PhD with a concentration on reading issues.

According to a comment by Ennis Cosby in an essay, “I believe in chances, so I do not give up on persons or children,” as reported by The Washington Post.

If more teachers are aware of the signs of dyslexia and learning disabilities in the class, I believe fewer students like myself will fall through the cracks, the young person stated.

Cosby is not just beautiful and athletic like his father, but he has a great sense of humor. In a light-hearted story, Bill Cosby once recalled promising Ennis his ideal Corvette if he improved his grades. Ennis remarked, “Dad, what do you think about a VW,” according to Bill.

Ennis Cosby’s life was cruelly cut short at the young age of 27.

In January 1997, Ennis Cosby flew to Los Angeles to visit friends. Nevertheless, he unintentionally got a flat tire on January 16 at around one in the morning while driving his mother’s Mercedes SL convertible on Interstate 405, in the Bel Air neighborhood.

According to OK! magazine, Cosby begged the lady he was seeing, Stephanie Crane, for help. The woman who had parked in front of Cosby urged him to contact a tow truck, but Ennis was adamant that he could change the tire himself. Then, as Crane was still driving, a man approached the window.

His name was Mikhail Markhasev. An 18-year-old Ukrainian immigrant named Markhasev and his friends were loitering in a nearby park and ride lot when they spotted Ennis and Crane’s cars. Markhasev is accused of approaching the cars while inebriated with the purpose to rob them.

He started by walking over to Crane’s car. She sped off in alarm. Then he went on to confront Ennis Cosby. But when he waited too long to hand over the cash, Markhasev shot him in the head.

The revelation rocked the Cosby family and the entire world. “He was my hero,” a visibly moved Bill Cosby told the television cameras. CNN came under fire for displaying pictures of Ennis Cosby’s body lying on the side of the road while everything was happening.

Yet it took some time and a crucial tip before detectives were able to identify Ennis Cosby’s killer. Christopher So, an old friend of Markhasev’s, phoned the police after reading that the National Enquirer was offering $100,000 for any information relating to Ennis Cosby’s passing.

The Associated Press claims that he and another person went in search of the weapon Markhasev had used to kill Ennis. Authorities claim that Markhasev bragged, “I shot a nigger.” It’s all over the news.

Police uncovered the handgun the 18-year-old had thrown away wrapped in a hat that had Genetic evidence connecting him to Markhasev when they arrested him in March. He was given a life sentence after being convicted guilty of first-degree murder in July 1998.

Despite the Cosby family not publishing a comment following Markhasev’s sentence, Ennis Cosby’s sister Erika talked to the media as they left the courtroom. She reportedly said, “Yeah, finally,” when asked if she was relieved, according to The Washington Post.

But in the years to come, Ennis Cosby’s demise would leave his family with an open wound in more ways than one.

Mikhail Markhasev killed Ennis Cosby, and Cosby’s family found it difficult to grasp the awful loss. In a touching opinion piece that was published in USA Today in July 1998, Ennis’s mother, Camille, laid the responsibility for her son’s passing on racism in the United States.

“I think America caused our son’s killer hate black people,” she wrote. Markhasev probably did not acquire his hatred of black people in his native Ukraine, where there was essentially no black population.

Despite their economic and academic triumphs, Camille claims that all African-Americans in America have been and still are at risk because of their skin tones. Regrettably, my family and I discovered that to be an American racial reality.

The pain felt by the Cosby family was made worse by Mikhail Markhasev’s refusal to accept responsibility for Ennis Cosby’s demise. Up until 2001, he insisted he didn’t fire the shot. But in February of the same year, Markhasev openly admitted his guilt and declared he would no longer be challenging his sentence.

According to ABC, he said, “Although my appeal is just getting started, I don’t want to go any farther since it’s predicated on falsehood and deceit. I am aware of my error and desire to right it.

Markhasev stated, “I want to apologize to the victim’s family above anything else. It is both my duty as a Christian and the least I can do in light of the massive sin I am accountable for.

Bill Cosby’s life has changed significantly in the years since Ennis Cosby passed away. His popularity has significantly decreased since the 1990s when multiple women accused the comedian of sexual assault. Bill was found guilty in 2018 of aggravated indecent assault before the decision was overturned in 2021.

But, he appears to have been considering his son Ennis Cosby the entire time. As the comedian prepared to go on trial in 2017, Bill honored each of his children in an Instagram post. He declared:

Keep fighting for Spirit, Ennis, Ensa, Erika, Erin, Camille, and Evin—I love you all.