Indian American Motel Owner in Alabama Killed Over Confrontation Over Room Rental

An Indian American motel owner in Alabama was shot and killed last week after a confrontation with a man asking for a room. Pravin Raojibhai Patel, 76, who owned Hillcrest Motel in Sheffield, was found dead on Feb. 8, al.com reported. 

A few hours later, police arrested 34-year-old William Jeremy Moore in connection with the incident, “following a police pursuit, after officers said he was trying to break into an abandoned house,” the al.com report said. He is currently being held in the Sheffield City Jail until he is transferred to the Colbert County Jail.

Moore wanted to rent a room at the motel, investigators said, when an altercation with Patel took place. 

Jemeriz Owens, who works as a barber across the street from Patel’s motel, told WAAY 31 News that when he heard “three gunshots go off back-to-back,” he ran to the motel and found police attending to Patel, who was dead. “That was the shocking part, man,” said Owens. “I didn’t think it was going to be Mr. Patel. There’s always something going on over there, but that was the last thing I would’ve thought would happen.”

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Funeral service was held for Patel at Morrison Funeral Home in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on Feb. 12, according to his obituary on Morristown Funeral Home.. Patel is survived by his wife, Renuka, and children, Nital and Nirmal and their respective families.