Slain Convenience Store Clerk Would Fight Robbers, Patrons Say
Employee Described as Family Man
By Hamil R. Harris and Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, January 14, 2007; C03
The patrons of the 7-Eleven in Forest Heights warned Bekuretsion K. Gebreamlak that he had to stop fighting the gunmen who robbed the store with depressing regularity. Just quietly hand over the cash, they told the 57-year-old clerk, and you'll be fine.
But the Suitland resident, who emigrated three years ago from Eritrea in eastern Africa, did not suffer such injustices lightly. He would often chase the robbers, and once he even locked one inside the convenience store.
Late Friday, when a man wearing dark sunglasses walked into the crowded store and shoved a gun in Gebreamlak's face, the part-time clerk talked back, a witness said. He was silenced with a shotgun blast, which killed him instantly, according to Prince George's County police.
"It was a very brazen crime, and we desperately want to get that guy off the street," Cpl. Clinton Copeland said of the assailant, who was wearing a long black coat, two-tone blue jeans, gloves and a black knit hat.
Copeland said the cash register had been moved, but it was unclear whether anything was taken. He said the gunman fled on foot. Police were analyzing the store's security camera footage for clues, Copeland said.
Jim Boyd, the owner of Critical Incident Clean-Up Inc. and a former Upper Marlboro police officer, spent yesterday cleaning up the scene, which was closed off from the public with dark curtains hanging over the windows.
"The circumstances are real tragic in this case," Boyd said. "They wanted money from the employee, and the employee either didn't react fast enough or did something that offended the bad guy, and the bad guy shot him."
Family members grieved yesterday in the Clinton home of the victim's brother, Wesen. Fessah Gebresilassie, Gebreamlak's brother- in-law, said the clerk's wife and three children -- two boys and a girl -- had come to the United States only eight months ago.
"This is really terrible," Gebresilassie said. "He was a nice, hard-working man. He was a family man. This is terrible. We don't deserve this."
Residents of the neighborhood near the 5500 block of Livingston Road said the 7-Eleven is a frequent target of violence. In the neighboring shops, a similar concern about crime is apparent: A Chinese and seafood takeout restaurant has a plexiglass window separating the servers from the customers, and at a nearby North Face jacket store, which is protected by burglar bars, customers have to be buzzed in to shop.
"It seems like that store gets robbed every three or four months," Larry Colbert, a longtime resident of the community, said of the 7-Eleven. "The police struggle to catch and bring the robbers in, and then they get out and are back on the loose."
Gebreamlak grew increasingly angry at the repeated robberies, store patrons said.
"He was a very opinionated person," said a 36-year-old man who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation. The man said Gebreamlak had given robbers money on other occasions but sometimes chased them as they fled the store. He said Gebreamlak had once locked a robber, as well as customers, inside the store in the hope of apprehending the criminal, but eventually he let everyone out.
"They all had a habit of trying to stop them, and grab them, and trying to fight," the man said of the store employees.
It is unclear what Gebreamlak did when the gunman entered his store about 9 p.m. Friday, but he apparently spoke to the robber, who brandished a shotgun and demanded money.
The 36-year-old man, who was seated outside the store as the robbery unfolded, said he didn't hear the gunshot but noticed people running out of the store about 20 yards away.
"The customers ran out of the store and said, 'They robbed him! He just got robbed!' " the man said. "I ran into the store, and there was one woman working with him. She said, 'They shot him.' I didn't want to look at him. His body was behind the counter on the floor."
A 7-Eleven official who supervised the cleanup said Gebreamlak was "a good employee who was liked by the customers." She said she had no idea when the store would open again.
