Wow, what bad news! And you know the crime is getting out of control when you have to reconsider being open overnight!
NIGHT-SHIFT HORROR
Clerk's death in $100 robbery shocks community
Friday, May 26, 2006
BY TOM BOWMAN
Of The Patriot-News
Hitender Thakur normally worked the afternoon shift at City Gas and Diesel but switched shifts with a friend so Thakur could attend classes at Harrisburg Area Community College until 9 p.m. Wednesday.
An hour after class ended, Thakur, who was studying to become a nurse and wanted to work with the World Health Organization, started his shift at the all-night convenience store at 16th and State streets. Three hours later, Thakur, 22, of Mandi, India, was dead.
"We saw him at 10 o'clock, and he relieved us and said, 'See you tomorrow,'" said Narender Atwal, a friend, also from India, who worked with Thakur at the store. "And then in the morning we got a call, and there he is. He is no more."
Harrisburg police, who viewed a videotape of the holdup from security cameras, said the robber pointed a handgun at Thakur through an open window in the glass that surrounds the counter as protection for the clerk.
Thakur bent over and tried to shut the window. The gunman fired, striking Thakur in the chest. Then the robber jumped over the counter through the open window, emptied the cash register and ran from the store.
Because Thakur was alone, there was nobody to call the police or an ambulance.
Minutes later, a customer found Thakur's body behind the counter and called for help.
Police said they have few leads. The gunman is described as a black man with a thin build, shorter than 6 feet, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.
County Coroner Graham Hetrick said Thakur was killed by a single bullet from a small-caliber handgun. The bullet tore through Thakur's chest at a downward angle because he was bending over to shut the window. It struck his heart and nicked his aorta, Hetrick said.
The coroner said Thakur probably "bled out" rapidly from the wound.
The robber netted a little more than $100.
"It's another tragic waste of life," Hetrick said. "It was just one bullet, but unfortunately, it was a terribly lethal shot. My belief is it comes down to money for drugs."
"He should've taken the money" and not shot Thakur, said store owner Nirmal Singh Gill.
After police took photos and looked for evidence inside the store, Gill and his family locked the front door.
Almost everyone who stopped at the store in the morning wanted to know which clerk had been killed. Customers from the neighborhood and one from as far as Union Deposit gathered outside, talking about the clerks as if they were family.
"I know them pretty good," said George Johnson of 17th and York streets. "I thought I'd come over and say something."
Three ladies who work next door in the Lincoln School cafeteria stopped by the store to try to comfort Gill's family and say how sorry they were to hear the news.
Atwal said Thakur was pleasant to all the customers.
"It's unbelievable because [Thakur] was so friendly with all of them," Atwal said. "It's basically the neighborhood. He was so friendly with all the old people. He would sing songs. We had a little tape recorder over there. We would tape record songs, and he would sing songs in our language. The other people wouldn't understand it, but they didn't care because he was always so lively and so happy. And always laughing and cracking jokes with everybody."
"He was just a baby, a sweetheart, a really nice kid," said Lucille Anders who lives on State Street across from the store. "He used to flirt with the girls. All the girls loved him. He sure didn't deserve to go out like this."
Anders said she moved here from New York City three years ago.
This was the fourth shooting in the area since she moved here, the first fatality, Anders said.
City police spokesman Randy King said he didn't know for sure how many shootings there were, but it could be four.
Atwal, a Penn State Harrisburg student, said such violence is unknown in India.
"I can't even think of any robbery where a friend of mine or a person I knew died," Atwal said. "If there's a shooting, it's probably between a gang or something. The mafia or whatever. There are never armed robberies where people get killed at stores. ...
"We don't have that fear until something like this happens," Atwal said. "I used to hear stories from other people. Like some Indian guy died in a gas station [holdup] in Atlanta or whatever. We'd be like, 'Oh man, that's bad, that's bad,' but we didn't know it would happen to people like us, right now."
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Fear of crime has some stores closing overnight
Fear of robbery has some stores closing for desperate hours
Friday, May 26, 2006
BY IRVIN KITTRELL III
Of The Patriot-News
Stephanie Diaz has an image about convenience store robberies locked in her mind, and it has her afraid to work an overnight shift.
Diaz, an early-evening cashier at Uni-Mart on Front Street in Susquehanna Twp., said, "It's really dangerous. That's the time when things happen. I have that scenario in my mind all the time."
Al Patel, who works at Shop and Drive in the 2200 block of Herr Street, said his store closes at 10 p.m. because no one wants to face desperate robbers in the early morning.
"We have to protect ourselves," he said. "We have families, too, and we want to go home."
A 22-year-old cashier at the City Gas and Diesel convenience store at 16th and State streets in Harrisburg didn't make it home yesterday. Hitender Thakur of Mandi, India, was killed when a robber shot him in the chest.
There were no witnesses to the crime, police said. No arrests have been made.
Thakur, who normally worked the afternoon shift, changed to nights to attend Harrisburg Area Community College and study nursing. He wanted to work with the World Health Organization.
D. Lee Bigelow, who works at the A-Plus in Camp Hill, said he would have no problems working the overnight shift. He has worked as a cab driver and said he was robbed three times doing that job.
"I had plenty experience being robbed," Bigelow said. "It's no fun."
Bigelow, a Republican committeeman in Harrisburg's 15th Ward, said businesses and police must work together in stopping crime. He said he believes a convenience store should not have to close because of crime.
"I wouldn't want to put this on a business, to have to shut down because of an increase in crime," he said. "I don't know what you can do."
Vijay Patel, a relative of Al Patel, works at One Stop at Third and Forster streets in Harrisburg. He said his store closes at 11 p.m.
"There's too much risk," he said. "We want to be safe."
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Oh well I am not complaining at all because 20-stories in HBG is still a lot LOL I am curious to see the design and I will be on the lookout for sure, and I hope it is something modern *please be glass* *please be glass*. The HBG skyline is sure filling in isn't it! Add in these new buildings (this and Market Square Plaza; she's still new in my book) and the Southern and Northern Gateway projects and you will have one impressive skyline in the decades to come! 
my wife was having a terrible time finding a job in her field, so now she decided to go back to school and get her teaching certificate. it may take her another year or so but she wants to be an elementary school teacher. i found out i'm going back on active duty for the army this october...5 month training school down in suburban DC (northern virginia).
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