It Is A Sad World We Live In

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I knew this guy. I ws there the first day he took over. I talked to him almost daily cause this was the place I bought cigs from. I can't believe anyone would do this.

Slain clerk had dreams
Hard-working man was leasing shop, family says after Irving holdup


07/29/2003

By IAN McCANN / The Dallas Morning News

Running a convenience store was Ali Adawi's route to independence, a way to support his family without having to spend time on the road as a trucker, his family said.

In the month since he began leasing the west Irving 1st Stop store, customers began asking for him by name. He lived there nearly every day so he wouldn't have to commute from Mesquite. He saw his family mostly on weekends.

Mr. Adawi's source of pride was closed on Monday, a day after he was shot and killed in a robbery on his 46th birthday. A nephew who worked at the store, Abdel Adawi, was shot three times and is recovering at Parkland Memorial Hospital.

Irving police said four men drove up to the store at Pioneer Parkway and Valley View Lane about midnight Sunday. Two got out, robbed the store and shot the Adawis, then got back in their car and drove off. No arrests have been made.

On Monday, few signs of the violence were visible inside the store that anchors one end of a strip shopping center. Dozens of people have visited 24-year-old Abdel Adawi in the hospital.

The slain man's wife, Besma, is returning from a trip to Jordan to set up funeral arrangements.

Ali Adawi was a jovial man, his family said. Though he worked long hours, people noticed the smile that always seemed to be on his face. Chris Rider, 22, said his stepfather was leasing the store as a trial run before buying it.

\"That's what gets me the most ? the last month, we didn't get to see him much,\" Mr. Rider said. \"It was an understanding that he'd work really hard to get it going. This is a good guy. His main goal was to put food on the table.\"

Mr. Adawi was there when the store opened in the mornings and late at night when it closed. After hours, he shopped for supplies. His family said he took pleasure in the little things at the store ? a new brand of soap, an area dedicated to automotive supplies.

He leaves behind two sons, 8-year-old Joey Adawi and Muad Adawi, 22, and stepdaughter Lena Adawi, 25.

Police said they don't know whether Mr. Adawi or his nephew struggled with the robbers or how quickly the crime happened. The store's surveillance cameras weren't working, family members said. Police declined to say who called 911 that night or whether anyone witnessed the robbery.

Employees at Ron Bokhari's restaurant next door to the convenience store were closing after a large party when the shooting occurred. None of them noticed anything until police arrived.

Mr. Bokhari said it's a quiet area, with crimes occurring only occasionally at the shopping center, which is about a half-mile south of State Highway 183.

\"This is something that alerts you,\" said Mr. Bokhari, who owns Haveli restaurant. \"After this, I'm going to install cameras outside.\"

The robbery comes nearly six weeks after an unrelated robbery-shooting at a Dallas convenience store that left two clerks dead. Four men face capital murder charges in the killings: Charles Akeen, 19; Zachery Bundage, 17; Tarnarius Fisher, 25; and Ted Petty, 22, all of Dallas.

Dallas Police said the men went into Red Coleman's Red-E-Mart on Walnut Hill Lane late June 17 and executed Messele Gebremichael and Habtamu Ayane. They also tried to kill a customer, but the gun misfired, police said.

Irving police said there's no way to know whether the men on Sunday intended to kill the Adawis when they went into the store.

\"Who's going to know the intent unless you were there?\" Irving police spokesman Officer David Tull asked. \"That's something we'll hopefully know after we catch these guys.\"

Crime Stoppers has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment in the Irving shooting and robbery. People with information about the case are asked to call Irving police at 972-721-2535
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