MOULTRIE — An armed robbery and shooting Tuesday night that left a 48-year-old convenience store clerk dead has sent shock waves throughout the community.
Shantilal Bhaya Bariya, 48, of 2809 Fifth St. S.E., Apt. E-2, was shot once in the left arm during an armed robbery at the Quick Mart convenience store at 1100 W. Central Ave. The shooting occurred at 10:39 p.m. The bullet went into his chest and hit his lung and other vital organs, and he died while being treated for the injuries at Colquitt Regional.
Moultrie Police Chief Frank Lang said no arrests had been made in the shooting as of Thursday afternoon.
Hetal Patel, an employee at the Best Little Store in Georgia, located a couple of blocks from where the shooting took place, said it was shocking to hear about Bariya’s death. She wondered why a robber would kill a store clerk whether they took money from the store or not.
“If they want the money,” Patel said, “we’ll give it to them. Why did they have to kill someone, too?”
The Quick Mart where the shooting took place was closed Wednesday but was back open on Thursday. Rico Patel, an employee of the store, said Bariya had only immigrated to the United States about five months ago. He came to Moultrie because he had friends in the area, leaving his wife and two children in India.
The store will take donations to help Bariya’s family back in India, Rico Patel said. All donations can be brought to the store, and everything collected will be sent to his family in India.
Bariya was working Tuesday night with two other store employees at the time of the shooting, but Rico Patel said he was not one of them. He, like all of the other employees at the store, want to see the killer brought to justice.
“We want whoever did this to be caught,” Rico Patel said. “We want justice.”
Rico Patel said the store will conduct its usual business and keep its regular hours in the wake of the shooting and robbery. The store security cameras captured the shooting and robbery on video, but images were not available at press time.
The robber was described as a black male, about 5-feet, 10-inches tall with a medium build and about 25 to 30 years old and possibly with light skin. He was last seen wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans with a mask.
The shooting death is the second murder that has taken place in Colquitt County in 2007, Shedrick Omar Bonner, 19, of 624 Second St. S.W., was found shot to death near the bike trail just off of Second Avenue Northwest on March 15.
Jerrod Lashon Blackwell, 18, of 831 Shy Manor Drive, Apt. 4, and Ktherius Dreadon Johnson, 17, of 1008 Elliot Brown St., were charged with the murder of Bonner along with armed robbery and weapons charges. Both Blackwell and Johnson were indicted on the charges Monday.
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