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Sheriff Offers $10,000 Reward In Double Murder

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By BILLY TOWNSEND | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 7, 2007

Updated: 12/08/2007 02:19 pm

Photos

LAKE ALFRED - The Polk sheriff's office is desperate to find the man who killed two recent Indian immigrants in cold blood during the failed Friday night robbery of a BP gas station and store where they were working at the intersection of interstate 4 and State Road 557.

Sheriff Grady Judd announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest at a Saturday press conference.

Because the killer targeted a store located just off Interstate 4 with no nearby residential community, Judd said his detectives have little to go on in tracking down a violent and ruthless man, Judd said.

"What worries us is that this happened right on the I-4 corridor," Judd said. It's likely that the killer approached and fled from the store via vehicle on I-4 and could be headed anywhere from St. Petersburg to Daytona Beach or beyond.

"He will rob again, and he will murder again," Judd said.

The employees have been identified as Pravinkumar Chimanbha Patel, 27, and Dashrath Patel, age unknown. Pravinkumar Patel was visiting from New Jersey and had only been in the area for two days. Dashrath Patel had been in the area for 10 months. Detectives believe neither man has family in the United States.

Most of their family is in India, Judd said.

The suspect is described as a black man with a stocky build wearing dark clothing, the sheriff's office said.

According to the sheriff's office, the store had closed for the night when a man walked up to the locked door and started shaking it. The clerk, Prakashkumar Patel, who was inside, told the man the store was closed.

The man pulled a handgun from his waistband and fired a shot through the glass door.

The clerk hid under the counter, called 911 and activated the alarm. The man then ran toward the two employees who were outside changing the store's sign and killed both of them. Both had gunshot wounds to the head, Judd said, though it is unclear how many times they were shot.

A surveillance photo caught an image of one of the victims with his hands in the air, Judd said, indicating that the killer subdued them before shooting.

"I can't understand why he didn't bring them back to the front of the store [rather than killing them]," Judd said, noting that the man then came back to the store to try again to enter.

He finally left and surveillance video caught him running away, though the video isn't of much help in identifying the man, whose face was at least partially concealed. Though detectives have no description of a getaway vehicle, Judd said the store's location makes it a virtual certainty that the man arrived and eventually fled in a vehicle on I-4.

"This is not a store you walk to to rob," he said.

That makes it likely that the man has an accomplice, Judd said.

Judd detectives are hoping to speak with anyone in a vehicle seen gassing up at the station just prior to the 9 p.m. robbery.

Judd said detectives think that person could help speed up the investigation.

Anyone with information can contact the sheriff's office at (863) 534-6631. Tips can be made anonymously at 1-800-226-TIPS.

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