Memorial for Rajeshkumar Patel / Pray of God

From DC Police reports: On Saturday, December 18, 2010, at approximately 6:40 pm, units from the Fifth District responded to the 3600 block of 12th Street NE, Washington DC, to investigate the report of a shooting. Upon their arrival, they located a victim suffering from a gunshot wound. DC Fire and EMS transported Rajeshkumar Patel, 46, of Bowie, MD, to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

I talked to several people at the Mr. Patel's shrine. He was very well-liked and respected. A few expressed that they hoped his murderer is brought to justice soon.

This shrine deeply affected me. My own grandfather, Henry Intrator, z'l, also had run a small store in New York, and like Mr. Patel, was a well-regarded, friendly, hard-working family man.

Adapted from from the Washington Post:
Mr. Patel, 46, did not get home Saturday night. Two men in ski masks robbed his shop, the Newton Foodmart in Brookland, just after 6:30 p.m. and shot him in the chest. The gunmen stole cash and fled before police officers arrived.

Mournful neighbors and fellow shopkeepers gathered
outside the closed store. A man who identified himself as M. Patel's nephew said that Patel had been in the back of the store when the robbers arrived and accosted his wife and son, ordering them down on the floor. One of the thieves shot Patel as he emerged from a storage room, the nephew said. "My uncle had no idea the robbery was happening," said the nephew, who declined to identify himself for fear of retribution. "He walked out, and the guy fired at him and ran off."

D.C. police are offering up to $25,000 to anyone with information that leads to an arrest. They were looking for two suspects; one wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt with a black patch on the hat and another who wore a black hooded sweatshirt. Both men were armed with silver handguns.

The DC tipline phone number is: 1-888-919-2746

Pray of God.