The owner of a Roxbury convenience store fears he’s being targeted after the deadly shooting of a clerk and the theft of his van.
A Boston convenience store owner fears his business is being targeted after his work van was stolen while he was helping a customer.
The owner of M&R Convenience on Shawmut Avenue in Roxbury is still getting over the tragedy of losing one of his clerks last summer. Twenty-four-year-old Tanjim Siam died five weeks after he was shot in the head during an armed robbery at the store.
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"It was heartbreaking. I never thought that was going to happen to me," the owner said.
Since that happened just over a year ago, the owner has done everything he can to improve security at the store, from closing two hours earlier to installing 14 surveillance cameras. Last week, one of the surveillance cameras captured another crime.
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Shared exclusively with NBC10 Boston, the video shows the owner's work van being stolen off the street while he was inside with a customer. He also has video of the suspect who was walking outside right before it happened.
"It was like I was dreaming. It happened within a minute and I couldn't believe it. My car was not there and I didn't know what to do," the owner said.
His van was later recovered in Medford, but it is so damaged that he is unable to drive it. He admits he should have locked it, but he said dozens of his customers do the same thing everyday, so he cannot help but feel targeted.
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"I'm still worried, what's going to happen next to me" I'm really scared to work in here," he said.
He filed a police report, but he has yet to hear of any arrests. He needs the job to support his family, but with everything that has happened lately, he does not know how much more he can take.
"I'm not hopeless. I'm hoping. I am trying to stay here, but again, this is happening to me, so right now, I am hopeless and I'm frustrated," he said.
