Jun 30, 2009 5:45 pm US/Eastern
Pharmacy Store Owner Gunned Down
Police Ask For Help In Finding His Killers
NW MIAMI-DADE (CBS4) ―
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A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue ambulance responds to a report of a shooting inside a Northwest Miami-Dade pharmacy.
CBS
A co-worker described him as a "loving, jovial family man from Broward." In an instant, he was struck down in a hail of bullets at his pharmacy in northwest Miami-Dade. Now Miami-Dade Police are asking for the public's help in finding his killers.
"The suspects fled in a small silver four-door Sports Utility Vehicle,"
said Miami-Dade Police spokesman Detective Robert Williams.
Police say they are looking for three men, one of them sporting short dreadlocks, who entered the 7th Ave. Pharmacy at Northwest 7th Ave. and 148th St. about 10:20 a.m. Tuesday. Once inside, they shot 49-year-old Sola Gafaru of Miramar, the owner of the pharmacy, stole some cash and took off. Gafaru was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A co-worker said Gafaru, who had a wife and a daughter, lived in Broward and came to this country from Nigeria.
Cyril Nzerue, the pharmacist in charge of the store, said Gafaru was "a very kind, loving, jovial man. We worked together for about a year. It's so disheartening. It's a shock to me."
About a dozen family members came by to the pharmacy late Tuesday and spoke with CBS4's Peter D'Oench.
"My uncle was a highly intelligent, good man, with a lot of heart and soul," said Sam Popooloa, "I don't know why they had to do that to him. Just take the money and go! He was a good man. It's a loss."
On behalf of the family, Popooloa urged anybody with information to come forward. "Right now, this would mean a lot to me and everyone in our family to help detectives with this case."
Nzerue said extra precautions were taken after the store was robbed two months ago. "We installed more locks and an alarm system. But apparently that was not good enough. I'm very shocked," he said.
"It's terrible. Very terrible," said Roy White who lives in the neighborhood where the robbery occurred. "He was my good friend. He got robbed last month and got robbed the month before. One of the times, it was actually a burglary. No one was there. It happened overnight. When he came in the next morning, he found the cash register broken all apart and the store was trashed."
White add that he is worried about his own safety in the neighborhood. "It's getting unsafe. Very unsafe. I'm thinking about moving," he said.
Anyone with information on the robbery is asked to call Miami-Dade Crimestoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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