Friends and neighbors of Raj Patel began leaving flowers outside the Newton Avenue FoodMart where the 46-year-old was killed Saturday evening. BrooklandAvenue reports that a memorial was held today and a funeral is planned for Thursday.
ABC7 reports that was killed while his wife and son watched during a robbery at the family’s store.
Patel may have caught the gunmen by surprise, the Post reports:
A man who identified himself as Patel’s nephew said that Patel had been in the back of the store when the robbers arrived and accosted his wife and son, ordering them down on the floor. One of the thieves shot Patel as he emerged from a storage room, the nephew said.
“My uncle had no idea the robbery was happening,” said the nephew, who declined to identify himself for fear of retribution. “He walked out, and the guy fired at him and ran off.”
