An armed Milwaukee man who was released from prison last month after serving time for armed robbery was fatally shot Wednesday during a hold-up attempt at a north side grocery, police said.
The 32-year-old man armed with a butcher knife was shot by the store manager after entering Omar's Grocery, 2900 N. 7th St., about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday and announcing he was robbing the store, said Capt. Joseph M. Purpero.
The man died at 6 p.m. at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, said Lt. Ernest Meress.
He had been released May 2 from Fox Lake Correctional Institution and was on parole for armed robbery, Purpero said.
Police questioned the store manager after the shooting but he was not arrested, Purpero said, adding that the manager is required to appear at the district attorney's office today for review of the case.
This is the second store robbery that ended in violence in a central city neighborhood in the past few weeks.
On May 31, Faisal Shawar, the 52-year-old owner of Deen Food Market at 3801 W. North Ave., was shot in the face in his store during a robbery. He died the next day.
Two north side men were charged with felony murder in the case.
Last August, the 53-year-old owner of Muskego Food Mart, 1988 S. Muskego Ave., shot and killed a man who robbed the store while wielding a 1-gallon pickle jar as a club. An inquest jury later found that the store owner acted in self-defense.
The self-defense statute will be considered while reviewing Wednesday's shooting, Purpero said.
"As a general principle of law," criminal defense attorney Dennis Coffey said Wednesday, "one is entitled to defend himself or others using essentially the same amount of force, deadly or otherwise, that he is being threatened with."
Coffey added that self-defense is applied on an objective standard, meaning that you can only use force sufficient to stop the attack.
"A problem with the defense would arise if someone is 20 feet away with a baseball bat and you start shooting him - that's not going to fly," said Coffey.
Nael Mohammad, who owns the Food Liner at 2626 W. Vliet St., said that there are many reasons store
owners are victims of violent crimes, including money, revenge, racial friction or simply because a store owner doesn't have enough safety precautions in place.
Mohammad, 45, said that in the 22 years he has owned his store he has never been robbed. He said he takes precautionary measures to ensure the safety of his store, such as having two employees in the store at all
times.
"If I have to spend $100 a week for my safety and my store, then I will do it," he said, adding that it's good to get to know the people in your neighborhood, as they to will look out for you.
Brian Bell, who has lived near Omar's Grocery for 30 years, said he is a regular customer at the store. "They are really nice people, good people. They never gave anyone problems," said Bell. "Everybody around here goes there. The store owners and I laugh and joke around every time I go in."
Bell, Mohammad and others felt that if this was a case of self-defense, the store manager may have been right in his judgment.
"You do what you have to do to protect yourself, but it also really depends on the circumstances," Mohammad said.
Bell said that he hopes he never has to make a decision as the store manager did.
"Sometimes it's a split-second decision to make - either defend yourself or be killed," said Bell, who feels although a lot of bad things happen in his neighborhood, that it is not just one area that is plagued by crime.
"It hasn't been OK around here - it's pretty bad," he said. "To me, Milwaukee isn't safe. Everywhere you go there is some kind of robbery or shooting."
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on June 15, 2000.
The 32-year-old man armed with a butcher knife was shot by the store manager after entering Omar's Grocery, 2900 N. 7th St., about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday and announcing he was robbing the store, said Capt. Joseph M. Purpero.
The man died at 6 p.m. at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, said Lt. Ernest Meress.
He had been released May 2 from Fox Lake Correctional Institution and was on parole for armed robbery, Purpero said.
Police questioned the store manager after the shooting but he was not arrested, Purpero said, adding that the manager is required to appear at the district attorney's office today for review of the case.
This is the second store robbery that ended in violence in a central city neighborhood in the past few weeks.
On May 31, Faisal Shawar, the 52-year-old owner of Deen Food Market at 3801 W. North Ave., was shot in the face in his store during a robbery. He died the next day.
Two north side men were charged with felony murder in the case.
Last August, the 53-year-old owner of Muskego Food Mart, 1988 S. Muskego Ave., shot and killed a man who robbed the store while wielding a 1-gallon pickle jar as a club. An inquest jury later found that the store owner acted in self-defense.
The self-defense statute will be considered while reviewing Wednesday's shooting, Purpero said.
"As a general principle of law," criminal defense attorney Dennis Coffey said Wednesday, "one is entitled to defend himself or others using essentially the same amount of force, deadly or otherwise, that he is being threatened with."
Coffey added that self-defense is applied on an objective standard, meaning that you can only use force sufficient to stop the attack.
"A problem with the defense would arise if someone is 20 feet away with a baseball bat and you start shooting him - that's not going to fly," said Coffey.
Nael Mohammad, who owns the Food Liner at 2626 W. Vliet St., said that there are many reasons store
owners are victims of violent crimes, including money, revenge, racial friction or simply because a store owner doesn't have enough safety precautions in place.
Mohammad, 45, said that in the 22 years he has owned his store he has never been robbed. He said he takes precautionary measures to ensure the safety of his store, such as having two employees in the store at all
times.
"If I have to spend $100 a week for my safety and my store, then I will do it," he said, adding that it's good to get to know the people in your neighborhood, as they to will look out for you.
Brian Bell, who has lived near Omar's Grocery for 30 years, said he is a regular customer at the store. "They are really nice people, good people. They never gave anyone problems," said Bell. "Everybody around here goes there. The store owners and I laugh and joke around every time I go in."
Bell, Mohammad and others felt that if this was a case of self-defense, the store manager may have been right in his judgment.
"You do what you have to do to protect yourself, but it also really depends on the circumstances," Mohammad said.
Bell said that he hopes he never has to make a decision as the store manager did.
"Sometimes it's a split-second decision to make - either defend yourself or be killed," said Bell, who feels although a lot of bad things happen in his neighborhood, that it is not just one area that is plagued by crime.
"It hasn't been OK around here - it's pretty bad," he said. "To me, Milwaukee isn't safe. Everywhere you go there is some kind of robbery or shooting."
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on June 15, 2000.
