Danger drives son to sell store
A little more than a year after Mahendrabhai Gordham "Omar" Patel was gunned down in his Fort Mill convenience store, his son is closing its doors.Jigar Patel said he would like to keep his father's dream alive, but it's too dangerous."I want to hang on to my dad's legacy, but nowadays, it isn't safe," Jigar said. "People will rob you for two dollars. I'm my mother's only child."Jigar said he does not want his mother to work alone at the store, Sunoco Petro Mart, as she sometimes does while he's in classes at UNC Charlotte and Central Piedmont Community College. He wants to become a doctor.On Wednesday, another couple will take over the store's management. Selling the store will allow Jigar to finish college and "let my dad's legacy run through my future success," he said.Still, he said, leaving makes him sad."Everybody walking in and out is family," he said. "I know what cigarette they smoke, what beer they drink and even what car they drive."Omar Patel, 48, opened the store on Tom Hall Street in 2002, and sometimes toiled for more than 10 hours before napping on a pallet in the back.No one has been arrested in Patel's Jan. 22, 2007, shooting death, Fort Mill police Capt. Bryan Zachary said. It was the only homicide reported to the Fort Mill Police Department in 2007, and it remains under investigation by the State Law Enforcement Division and Fort Mill police.
Charlotte.com  –  May 12, 2008 10:40 AM [GMT]
found in Local: North Carolina: Charlotte