Indian American Gas Station Owner Shot Dead in Broad Daylight While Depositing Cash at Bank
- Amit Kumar Patel, 45, of Columbus, Georgia, was in a rush to get home to celebrate his daughter’s third birthday.
A day of celebration turned into grief for Amit Kumar Patel’s family in Columbus, Georgia when the 45-year-old Indian American was shot dead on Nov. 6 in broad daylight outside a bank. Patel, who owned a gas station in the neighborhood, was pronounced dead outside the bank by Muscogee County Deputy Coroner Charles Newton, the Ledger-Enquirer reported.
The incident occurred when Patel was making the weekend deposit at the Synovus Bank before heading home to celebrate his daughter’s third birthday, his partner, Vinnie Patel told local media.
The shooter took the money, he said, adding that police suspect it was a targeted crime. He said it’s not yet clear if his business partner of six years was being followed by the person who shot and killed him. “They [the police] feel like he was followed, but not sure if he was followed from the store, or something happened at the bank….. We don’t know, at this point.”
Vinnie Patel said Amitkumar Patel was good at his work and well-liked. “He was a super guy, a super nice guy. He ran a very smooth operation, and was very intelligent.”
It was a sentiment echoed in a GoFundMe page started by friends to help the family. “Amit was one of the most loving, calm, and gentle souls we knew and if you had the opportunity to meet him you would know the warmth of a great man and father,” friends say on the GoFundMe page.
Patel, who hails from Nandiad in Gujarat, was the primary breadwinner and after this incident, his family is left without a steady source of income. His wife, Roshni Patel, “now faces the task of being the sole caregiver for his 3-year-old daughter, 91-year-old handicapped grandmother-in-law, retired father-in-law, and disabled mother-in-law with polio,” the page notes.
Last month, Sajan Mathews, 56, from Kerala, was killed when a robber barged into his beauty supply store in Dallas and shot him. The accused, a 15-year-old, has since been arrested and is facing a capital murder charge.