Representative image. A teenage boy robbed a convenience store and killed Mainank Patel
| Photo Credit: AP

A 36-year-old Indian-origin man has been shot and killed after a teenage boy robbed a convenience store in the U.S. state of North Carolina, authorities said.

Mainank Patel, the owner of the Tobacco House store at 2580 Airport Road, died after the shooting on Tuesday (August 13, 2024) morning, the Salisbury Post reported.

A juvenile male is in custody for the crime, according to Rowan County Sheriff’s Office. Because the young man is a juvenile, deputies are not able to release his name.

The juvenile was arrested Tuesday (August 13, 2024) evening but no additional details have been released.

Deputies initially responded to the Tobacco House convenience store in response to a 911 hang-up call, said Captain Mark McDaniel, public information officer for the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.

While they were en route to the location, communications were received that there had been a shooting. When the deputies arrived on scene they found Patel suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, said McDaniel.

The victim was taken to Novant Health Rowan Medical Center and then transported to Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, where he died as a result of his injuries, the report added.

A security video showed a tall, slender white male running across the store parking lot away from the building. He was wearing black shorts, a black hoodie, a black ski mask and white Nike tennis shoes with burgundy logos, and appeared to have a black handgun in his hand, said Mr. McDaniel.

Mr. McDaniel said that the sheriff’s office is not certain of the motive in the shooting, but that it currently appears to have been a robbery. No one else was injured.

Patel leaves behind his seven-and-a-half-month pregnant wife, Ms. Ami, and their 5-year-old daughter.

Customers and workers say Mr. Patel would help anyone and the community is in mourning over his death.

“It hit everybody because this was a family, this was a community family store,” said Ann Ellis, a customer.

Javier Lopez has been cutting the grass at the store for years, even before Mr. Patel took over from his cousin, Mr. Lopez said, and the Patel family “treated everyone like family.

“There are just no words to describe how great a guy Mike was,” he continued.

“He was a super good man, good to his customers, loved his family and would have helped anyone,” said Patricia Howard, another regular customer at the store.