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Store clerk murdered in Missouri City
By DIANE TEZENO
Several customers and store owners gathered outside of a convenience store a day after a store clerk was murdered in a weekend robbery in Missouri City.
Twenty-one-year old Bhattarai Ashok, a store clerk on duty during the robbery was shot and killed by an unknown suspect. Police are searching for a black male, approximately 5-foot, 10-inches tall, seen on store surveillance tapes entering the store, pulling out a gun and shooting the Missouri City store clerk.
The shooting occurred on Sept. 28 at the 1st Stop Food Store, located in the 2500 block of Cartwright Road.
Three Missouri City patrol units were dispatched to the scene around 10:10 p.m. in response to a 9-1-1 call. Patrol units were later joined by a team of crime scene investigators and detectives.
Officers arrived to find the store clerk attendant lying dead on the floor of the business, according to a police department press release.
A makeshift memorial of flowers and stuffed animals began forming outside of the store as customers stopped by to share their loss. A large wreath also hung on the door of the store, with notes posting the store's closure on Monday and Tuesday.
Patricia Paul, a Missouri City resident, expressed shock and dismay at the murder.
"This man was a fine young man, he was nice and kind to everybody," said Paul. "I saw him at least four times a week, we had a real good relationship and he was just like a son to me."
"Whoever did it, I hope they ask for forgiveness," said Paul.
Paul, a clerk at a local Walgreens, said that convenience store workers have to "come to work and stay prayed up everyday because we don't know if it will be our last time."
Paul said she could not imagine the motive for the murder or why anyone would kill someone so nice and kind.
"It couldn't be because he was mean or rude to anybody," said Paul.
Several other customers arrived to the store and were shocked to discover that Ashok had been killed, including Gorlion Curry, a Missouri City resident.
Curry said that he wore a shirt with his name on it in the store once and every time he came to the store Ashok remembered his name. The Missouri City resident said he learned about the convenience store murder from a sister who lives in Third Ward in Houston, who saw it on a local news station.
When Curry, and his wife Gilda, realized that it was the store they frequented and that Ashok had been killed, the couple returned to the store to place flowers at the site, along with a growing number of other flowers left by customers.
Paul Kerner, a Quail Valley East resident, described Ashok as "a very nice young man, who always had something nice to say and always had a smile."
Eleven-year-old Mason Clark, and his father, Shawn, stopped by the store to pay tribute to the murdered store clerk. In a handwritten letter, taped to the front door of the store, the younger Clark wrote "You were so nice and it doesn't make sense that someone would do that."
Shawn Clark and his son, affectionately called Ashok, Soke, the store clerk's name pronounced in English, said Clark.
According to Clark, Ashok was from Berma and was also a student at Houston Community College.
"He was a wonderful guy and very chatty and he always knew your name," said Clark, a sentiment echoed by a number of customers.
Gloria Williams, another frequent customer to the store, said she had just talked with Ashok on Sunday. She and another customer Corine Jamison discussed the news in the parking lot of the store as several customers drove up to learn of Ashok's death.
"I can't even back out of the parking lot after hearing this, I am just stunned," said Jamison.
"I was just here yesterday, clowning and joking with him," said Williams, adding that she was shocked and deeply hurt to hear the news of his murder.
Based on preliminary findings investigators have no clearly established motive for the apparent shooting, according to a Missouri City Police Department press release.
Investigators are looking at store video surveillance tapes, but have yet to identify the suspect involved in the crime, said Sgt. Sal Salinas of the Missouri City Police Department.
According to Salinas, the tape shows a 5-feet, 10-inches, black male, with a doo rag covering his face entering the store and pulling a gun on the clerk, who at the time, was working in the store safe.
The suspect is then seen shooting the clerk and then going around the counter and taking an unspecified amount of cash from the register before leaving the store, said Salinas.
Investigators are working to review more tape to determine how the suspect left the store, on foot, or by vehicle, according to Salinas.
"All we can tell is that he went out of the store and disappeared," said Salinas of preliminary findings.
According to the owner of the store and another store employee outside the store on Monday, Sept. 29, customers have been stopping by and sharing their condolences on the loss of the store clerk throughout the day.
Ashok had been working at the store for one year, and had, in that time, come to know many of the store's patrons.
The owner of the store called Ashok's death a tragic loss and said that he was a fine young man and very well liked by customers.
Missouri City police are continuining to investigate the murder and ask anyone with information to contact Missouri City Police Department at 281-403-8700.
Twenty-one-year old Bhattarai Ashok, a store clerk on duty during the robbery was shot and killed by an unknown suspect. Police are searching for a black male, approximately 5-foot, 10-inches tall, seen on store surveillance tapes entering the store, pulling out a gun and shooting the Missouri City store clerk.
The shooting occurred on Sept. 28 at the 1st Stop Food Store, located in the 2500 block of Cartwright Road.
Three Missouri City patrol units were dispatched to the scene around 10:10 p.m. in response to a 9-1-1 call. Patrol units were later joined by a team of crime scene investigators and detectives.
Officers arrived to find the store clerk attendant lying dead on the floor of the business, according to a police department press release.
A makeshift memorial of flowers and stuffed animals began forming outside of the store as customers stopped by to share their loss. A large wreath also hung on the door of the store, with notes posting the store's closure on Monday and Tuesday.
Patricia Paul, a Missouri City resident, expressed shock and dismay at the murder.
"This man was a fine young man, he was nice and kind to everybody," said Paul. "I saw him at least four times a week, we had a real good relationship and he was just like a son to me."
"Whoever did it, I hope they ask for forgiveness," said Paul.
Paul, a clerk at a local Walgreens, said that convenience store workers have to "come to work and stay prayed up everyday because we don't know if it will be our last time."
Paul said she could not imagine the motive for the murder or why anyone would kill someone so nice and kind.
"It couldn't be because he was mean or rude to anybody," said Paul.
Several other customers arrived to the store and were shocked to discover that Ashok had been killed, including Gorlion Curry, a Missouri City resident.
Curry said that he wore a shirt with his name on it in the store once and every time he came to the store Ashok remembered his name. The Missouri City resident said he learned about the convenience store murder from a sister who lives in Third Ward in Houston, who saw it on a local news station.
When Curry, and his wife Gilda, realized that it was the store they frequented and that Ashok had been killed, the couple returned to the store to place flowers at the site, along with a growing number of other flowers left by customers.
Paul Kerner, a Quail Valley East resident, described Ashok as "a very nice young man, who always had something nice to say and always had a smile."
Eleven-year-old Mason Clark, and his father, Shawn, stopped by the store to pay tribute to the murdered store clerk. In a handwritten letter, taped to the front door of the store, the younger Clark wrote "You were so nice and it doesn't make sense that someone would do that."
Shawn Clark and his son, affectionately called Ashok, Soke, the store clerk's name pronounced in English, said Clark.
According to Clark, Ashok was from Berma and was also a student at Houston Community College.
"He was a wonderful guy and very chatty and he always knew your name," said Clark, a sentiment echoed by a number of customers.
Gloria Williams, another frequent customer to the store, said she had just talked with Ashok on Sunday. She and another customer Corine Jamison discussed the news in the parking lot of the store as several customers drove up to learn of Ashok's death.
"I can't even back out of the parking lot after hearing this, I am just stunned," said Jamison.
"I was just here yesterday, clowning and joking with him," said Williams, adding that she was shocked and deeply hurt to hear the news of his murder.
Based on preliminary findings investigators have no clearly established motive for the apparent shooting, according to a Missouri City Police Department press release.
Investigators are looking at store video surveillance tapes, but have yet to identify the suspect involved in the crime, said Sgt. Sal Salinas of the Missouri City Police Department.
According to Salinas, the tape shows a 5-feet, 10-inches, black male, with a doo rag covering his face entering the store and pulling a gun on the clerk, who at the time, was working in the store safe.
The suspect is then seen shooting the clerk and then going around the counter and taking an unspecified amount of cash from the register before leaving the store, said Salinas.
Investigators are working to review more tape to determine how the suspect left the store, on foot, or by vehicle, according to Salinas.
"All we can tell is that he went out of the store and disappeared," said Salinas of preliminary findings.
According to the owner of the store and another store employee outside the store on Monday, Sept. 29, customers have been stopping by and sharing their condolences on the loss of the store clerk throughout the day.
Ashok had been working at the store for one year, and had, in that time, come to know many of the store's patrons.
The owner of the store called Ashok's death a tragic loss and said that he was a fine young man and very well liked by customers.
Missouri City police are continuining to investigate the murder and ask anyone with information to contact Missouri City Police Department at 281-403-8700.
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