Father Of Two Parkland Shooting Survivors Killed In Convenience Store Robbery
As if surviving a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School wasn’t traumatic enough, now two of the survivors have lost their father to a shooting — this time at the father’s convenience store, reports CBS News. According to police, “61-year-old Ayub Ali was killed when a man who had just robbed him returned to the store and opened fire Tuesday.” Ali was a father of four — a son and a daughter both survived the horrific Valentine’s Day massacre at their school that killed 17.
There was surveillance footage that the Broward Sheriff’s Office homicide detectives released on Thursday with the hope that someone in public will recognize the shooter. The video shows the suspect in Aunt Molly’s food store wearing red shorts, a black tank top, and a green beanie-type hat with a red band that said “Miami” on it. He was seen walking around the store before he approached Ali behind the register. You can see what looks like a black object being used to poke Ali, who appeared to be cooperating as he quickly opened the cash register.
The thief can then be seen helping himself to the contents of the register and stuffing the money into his pocket. The suspect then followed behind Ali around the store to what looks like a door and makes him go inside.
They both then leave the room and return to the open area of the store, this time with the suspect leading the way. It looked like he was leaving the premises but then he turned around and came back in. The two looked to be having a discussion, possibly an argument and then they walked out of frame. The video then cuts to him walking outside the door — and then the police spliced together three different views of the mystery man. According to Miami CBS, Ali was taken to the Broward health medical center where he was pronounced dead.
“I can’t believe this. It happened during a robbery in his own store,” said friend Joaquin Nieves to the local station. “Please, anyone knows anything tell them speak up. Tears me apart, I hope somebody seen something somebody call the cops please let’s stop the violence.”
Five months after two of his kids survived #ParklandShooting, store owner killed in robbery in North Lauderdale. @browardsheriff seeks information.https://t.co/DAD5OJlWZZ@MiamiHerald pic.twitter.com/iiyVzmlGYl
— Howard Cohen (@HowardCohen) July 19, 2018
A family member who didn’t want to speak on camera told the station that the thief walked away with about $500 in cash.
“He deserves to get whatever he gets, I don’t care what he is, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Haitian, I don’t care, he needs to go to jail,” Nieves said.
Police hope that if you have any information about this crime, to please call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
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