Satish Patel is survived by his wife and 2 children, who are in India.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A convenience store employee near Houston, named Satish Patel, was shot and killed during an armed robbery attempt at his establishment on Sunday night.
Patel (58) was at the Phillips 66 gas station and convenience store that he worked at, located on Highway 59 in the Humble area of Houston, Texas. Patel was behind the counter when four armed men entered the store with the intention of holding it up. Security video footage shows that they had barely entered the store before firing on Patel repeatedly, killing him right then and there.
Local police say that the robbers eventually took off in a Dodge pick-up truck that was parked just outside the store. The truck was recovered within hours of the murder, just about a half-mile away from the scene of the crime, but so far police have been unable to identify the perpetrators.
Surviving Patel are his wife, daughter, and son, all of whom live in India. Patel worked as the night clerk at the Phillips 66 store, and was helping to support his family back in India with his paychecks earned at the job. He was close with his cousin, Anand, who told local KHOU news that the family has been struggling to cope with the loss.
Patel’s death is the recent in a spate of Indian American convenience store owners who have been the targets of criminal activity in the last few months. Georgia man Nick Patel was shot in February while manning the post at his store, three young men in New Jersey were arrested for killing gas station worker Surinder Singh last October, and 27 year-old Manpreet Ghuman Singh was killed in California last summer, to name a few.
The police investigation into Satish Patel’s death is still ongoing.