LAKE WALES, Fla. (WFLA) – The past two weeks have been nothing short of misery for the wife of a convenience store clerk gunned down in Lake Wales. On Friday, Arzina Hafsa made a plea to the public for help finding the killer.
The shooting happened around 2:22 a.m. on October 27, outside of the QP Convenience Store, at 704 N. Scenic Highway.
Police say 48-year-old Mohamed Allam of Lake Wales was found with a gunshot wound and later died at the hospital.
Surveillance video shows Allam, who was a store employee, had closed the business and was walking out to his SUV to leave.
Allam was approached and confronted by two suspects, police say, who were wearing hoods. The video shows them pointing a gun at Allam and forcing him to remove his pants. According to police, one of the suspects takes the pants, in which he was only carrying his personal property, and at some point during the confrontation Allam was shot with a handgun.
“It’s very concerning. The fact that they were willing to take somebody’s life over something as simple as somebody’s pants and what he may have in those pants,” Lake Wales Deputy Chief Troy Schulze said.
“If you a were a couple dollars short, he would say ‘bring it back and make it up next time.’ Everyone genuinely liked him,” friend James Frazier said. “No one deserves this. I’m not condoning it, but if you’re going to try and rob somebody, you don’t have to kill them.”
The suspects fled the scene on foot running south toward Dr. JA Wiltshire Avenue with the victim’s pants.
Muhammad’s phone has since been found, but police are still searching for his killer.
“I feel my heart burning,” The victim’s wife Arzina Hafsa said as she fought back tears. The couple had been married for 12 years and had two daughters. “He was a very, very good husband and father. They ask why is my father not coming? I cannot say anything.”
“I want justice. Please anybody know information about the people who did this,” Hafsa said.
Anyone with information, is asked to call Heartland Crime Stoppers at (800) 226-8477. A $5,000 reward is being offered.
“We’d like to encourage people to continue to call, so far each of the leads have washed out,” Lake Wales Deputy Chief Troy Schulze said. “There has been nothing at this point that we have been able to create a case or file charges.”
“It’s hard knowing that somebody is out there that’s got the the cold heartedness just to be able to take somebody’s life over nothing,” Deputy Chief Shulze said.