Police in Anne-Arundel County, Maryland, say a man killed gas station clerk Rajinder Kumar, 49, at point blank range and walked out with cash from the register in the early hours of Aug. 7. The incident is the worst nightmare of gas station workers and Kumar is among many individuals of Indian origin who take up these relatively dangerous night-time duties to earn money to send home. Kumar was doing precisely that, earning some extra money to send home to his wife Rajni and his two children Saurav and Sonali, who live in Punjab. Today, his family and neighbors are mourning his death at the hands of a cold-blooded killer, who police say intended to kill before he walked into the gas station store.
The store video posted on the Anne-Arundel Police website shows a black man dressed in light colored Bermuda shorts and a dark sweatshirt with the hoodie covering his head, walking in the door, raising his gun and brazenly shooting the person behind the counter. The Exxon gas station where the tragedy happened is at the intersection of Annapolis Blvd. and Ridge Rd. in Hanover, MD.
Lt. T.J. Smith told News India Times the investigation is continuing and there is no new information so far on the suspect. “He had on a mask unfortunately,” Lt. Smith said, “We are hoping people who know this person by how he walks or his mannerisms will come forward,” he added. “It was a cold blooded murder and there was nothing Mr. Kumar could have done to prevent it,” Lt. Smith told News India Times.
Surveillance video from outside the store also on the police website, shows the same man carrying a knapsack or black garbage bag on his back, running away as a dark colored Range Rover pulls into the gas station. Police as asking those in the Range Rover to come forward with any information they may have as they must have seen the killer escaping past their vehicle.
A customer called 911 at exactly around the time of the killing, 1:30 a.m. to report the injured and unconscious clerk. Kumar died of his wounds. An Asian News International report from Amritsar says Kumar is survived by his wife Rajni Sharma and their two children Saurav and Sonali.
According to police, the killer pulled the trigger multiple times as the shots did not go off the first two times. Police are continuing the investigation and said the station would be closed on Aug. 8th morning, and that Kumar’s next of kin had been informed of the tragedy.
“It appears the person went in with the intent of robbery and potentially with the intent to kill,” said police Lt. T.J. Smith is quoted saying in the WBAL report. “This is a brazen act. This is a really bad guy that’s out there right now, and that’s why we need him off the street, because to walk into a place like this in a busy area and do what he did, that’s a cold, callous person that we need to get off the street,” Smith added.
Television interviews of Kumar’s roommate in Glen Burnie, MD as well as of friends and associates reveal that the man who hailed from Punjab took the job at the gas station to earn a few extra bucks to his family in India. Kumar’s nephew, appearing on the ANI news report, urged U.S. authorities to send his uncle’s body home so that the family could carry out necessary rituals.