One of the photos I shot and chose was that of "Red Mike Grocery" on North Elm Street.
Well, I was shocked this morning to see, above the fold, on the front page on the local paper, an image of Red Mike Grocery.
There's just no sense in it.
Greensboro police investigate a robbery and homicide at Red Mike Grocery. (credit: Lynn Hey / News & Record)
The story from the News-Record follows:
Fatal shooting of grocer stuns, saddens residents
Monday, November 10(updated 1:35 pm)GREENSBORO - Police launched a homicide investigation Sunday morning at a busy corner in one of Greensboro's oldest and most distinguished neighborhoods.
About 9:40 a.m. Sunday, Mohammed "Mike" Ali, 28, co-owner of Red Mike Grocery, was found with gunshot wounds by a customer in his store at 600 North Elm St., in the Fisher Park neighborhood.
As he lay bleeding, his storefront was reflected in the mirrored windows of the First Presbyterian Church business office.
The shooting happened as it and several other nearby churches held Sunday services.
His fiancee and friends confirmed that Ali was the victim. Greensboro police have not identified next-of-kin and would not confirm the victim's name.
By noon, the victim was pronounced dead at Moses Cone Hospital while police searched for two men who fled on foot.
One was described as a black man, 5 feet 8 inches tall, 25 years old and weighing 180 pounds. He wore all black clothing. The other man was black, 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall, 175 pounds and 28 to 30 years old. He was wearing a gray and black shirt with a hood and bluejeans.
"We're doing follow-up canvasses of the neighborhood," said police Capt. Janice Rogers. Some cash was taken from the register, she said, but did not offer many other details.
Ali, originally from Jerusalem, was a thick man with olive skin and a head of wild, curly black hair.
"Hello, friend," he would say to anyone stopping by. Though he only opened the store a year ago, friends and customers got to know him well. He'd listen to political arguments and crack jokes, and it was common to see Ali working at both noon and at midnight on the same day.
"He was a hard worker," said Mounir Hani, Ali's best friend. "He always worked more than 80 hours a week."
The red-and-yellow store sold usual neighborhood convenience goods - such as toilet paper, cigarettes, soda, chips and beer. During the summer, Ali also added a wine selection.
"He had just gotten my organic wine in," said Jennifer Scott, who lives on nearby South Park Drive.
But to his fiancee, Nikki Tipton, Ali was far more than a hard worker.
"We were going to get married Thursday," she said with red-rimmed eyes while sitting on the patio at Fishers Grille, next door to the convenience store. "He would've been 29 on the 16th."
Ali moved to Greensboro from Charlotte to open the store in Fisher Park, a tree-lined neighborhood with expensive old homes where many of the city's attorneys, doctors, professors and businessmen live.
Among those professionals, Ali planned to seek more success himself. He was three classes away from earning a bachelor's degree in computer science from UNC-Charlotte. And though running Red Mike kept him busy, he sometimes mentioned opening another store in the city.
"He was basically a self-made person," said Dwight Bowers, who lived with Ali and Tipton.
"I don't know," Bowers said of Ali's death and that he may have been shot over money. "Desperate times makes desperate people."
By 3 p.m. Sunday, the patio was full next door at Fishers Grille with people remembering Ali.
"He was even nice to the homeless people," Scott said. "If they asked him for money, he'd give them $10."
Shoppers would often find Ali sitting behind his counter, watching an action or comedy on DVD. He originally intended to keep the store open 24-7, but Ali recently scaled back his hours. But that wasn't a firm rule.
"If he knew that you were getting off work late, he'd stay open a little longer," Bowers said.
His store was a late-night stop for crowds headed north on Elm Street after a night of fun downtown.
"It's tragic, shocking. Mike was a nice guy," said Joshua Johnson, who also lives on South Park Drive.
Word of the shooting spread fast through Fisher Park on Sunday via text message and its online forum.
"We all contacted each-other, and I got the text message saying that there had been gunfire," said Nicole Crews, whose house is behind Fishers Grille on Magnolia Street. She posted a forum message on the shooting with the subject line, "Oh My God."
More than a dozen messages followed with police whereabouts and warnings for residents to stay inside.
"Police were taking the dogs through the neighborhood," she said, "and we were all outside trying to figure out what was going on."
Police said they caught the scent of one of the men, but could not follow it for long.
Rogers said they don't believe the shooting is linked to a homicide that happened Saturday night at 1704 Hidden Forest Drive, near Lees Chapel Road.
"You could've seen something and not thought much about it," she said, "but we'd like to know."
Anyone with any information is being asked to call Crime Stoppers at 373-1000.
Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com
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