A sad event occurred in North Carolina where Mainank Patel, a 36-year-old man of Indian descent and owner of Tobacco House convenience store was killed by gunfire during a robbery on Tuesday morning. Authorities say a juvenile male is being detained over the incident.
The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office stated that it had initially dispatched deputies to the Tobacco House located at 2580 Airport Road following a 911 hang-up call. They were informed about a possible shooting while they were still on their way. Upon reaching there, they found Patel struggling with multiple gunshots wounds. He was taken to Novant Health Rowan Medical Center and then transported to Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte where he died later.
Juvenile arrested
Though the sheriff’s office has identified this suspect as being a juvenile male, his identity cannot be revealed due to his age. He was apprehended yesterday evening. No other injuries have been reported; however, details concerning matters leading up to the shooting are still unknown.
Community in mourning
Mike (as he was affectionately known) is remembered by many people within the community. His wife Ami is pregnant for seven and half months while they have one daughter who is five years old. The sympathy shown by customers and locals towards him shows how much each person loved him.
“This affected everybody because it’s like we lost our family, our community family store,” commented Ann Ellis, who used to visit the store every day as well. “Words simply can’t express what an amazing person Mike was,” Javier Lopez said when talking about Patel’s death; he has been working on store grounds for many years.
One of the regular customers Patricia Howard pointed out that Patel’s kindness and generosity were remarkable: “He was really good man, treated his customers good, loved his family and would help anybody.”
The surveillance footage from inside the store showed that right after leaving the scene, there was someone suspected among others – tall white man, slim build, dressed in black shorts, with a black hood on his head and wearing a skiing mask who had a black gun. The town still mourns the lost of Patel whose gentle bearing and concern for his clients was well recognized.
