Patel’s wife, children not being given visas for last rites.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: A suspect has been nabbed by the police in the murder of Satish Patel, the convenience store employee who was shot dead by armed robbers, in Humble, Texas, last week.
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. 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.
Patel worked as the night clerk and manager at the store owned by his cousin, Anand Patel, and was helping to support his family back in India.
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.
ABC13 Eyewitness reported that Satish patel’s wife and two children, who are in India, are not able to get to the US, for his last rites. Relatives are now calling on their US representatives to help get his wife and two children to Houston.
The report also revealed that Patel was a fearless employee who protected the store, with little regard to his own life. He had gone for his gun when he was shot dead.
He was a model employee, loved by customers, never missed a day of work and did everything he could to protect the store, said the report.
Anand Patel was quoted as saying, “His way at looking at things was if you give in to these thugs and robbers, then once they find a soft spot, then they are going to keep coming back to that area. And he always believed; fight till you can’t fight anymore.”
Patel had thwarted off an armed attacker in March of this year.
ABC13 got an exclusive look at another armed robbery involving Patel who went for his gun, shot at the robber and missed. The robber went for Patel’s gun. More shots were fired and that robber could be seen going aisle to aisle. When he couldn’t get out of the store he started throwing antifreeze and motor oil at Patel and another clerk, who also got a gun. That robber was finally shot, and even started a fire before police arrived. The suspect was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
According to Your Houston News, the suspect in police custody for Patel’s death, Anthony Jamerson, 17, is also charged in last month’s murder of an accomplice of his, Tommy Thurman, at a motel, last month.