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Store Owner's Slaying Stuns Family, Immigrant Community

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune
and STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 19, 2008

Updated: 08/19/2008 04:31 pm

His wife is so stunned, she cannot talk.

His 2-year-old son cannot understand why his father hasn't come home from the convenience store he has owned for eight years.

And members of St. Petersburg's small Bangladeshi community – to which Mohammad Nasir Uddin belonged – are scared.

Uddin, 44, died Monday afternoon, one day after he was shot during a robbery at his business, the Central Food Mart, 2157 Central Ave., St. Petersburg police said Tuesday.

Two customers – Ronald Hayworth, 50, a transient, and Albert Barton, 66, of St. Petersburg -- were wounded during the robbery, said St. Petersburg Police Department spokesman Bill Proffitt.

Hayworth remained in critical condition at Bayfront Medical Center, and Barton was in serious condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

As a result of Uddin's death, one of the three attempted murder charges the two accused robbers faced has been upgraded to first-degree murder, Proffitt said. Spencer Peeples, 27, and Khadafy Mullens, 24, both of St. Petersburg, are being held without bail at the Pinellas County Jail on a variety of charges.

Bashir Ahmmed, the owner of a BP gas station, said he and Uddin come from the same town in Bangladesh, Patuakhali. He said Uddin has been in the United States for 10 years and owned the food mart for eight.

"There's so much crying," said Ahmmed.

In addition to the 2-year-old son, Uddin and his wife have a 5-year-old daughter, Ahmmed said. Uddin's wife is incommunicable with grief; the boy is confused.

Like Uddin, many of the city's Bangladeshi immigrants work at or own gas stations or food marts or convenience stores. "We are scared," Ahmmed said.

At 6:35 p.m. Sunday, Peeples and Mullens robbed the store, police said. They took cash and lottery tickets and the keys to Uddin's 2002 four-door Toyota, police reports say.

Peeples went to get the car, and Mullens stepped outside to wait, but Peeples didn't drive up immediately, Proffitt said. Mullens went back inside the store, found Uddin on the phone calling 911 and shot him, Proffitt said.

Mullens then threw Hayworth on the floor and shot him, Proffitt said. Barton walked in the door, and Mullens shot him, Proffitt said. Apparently, Mullens was trying to kill potential witnesses, the spokesman said.

The robbers became aware of a surveillance video camera in the store, found a video recorder and took it, Proffitt said. What they didn't know was that a new recorder had been installed, and they missed the functioning recorder, which captured the entire robbery and shooting, with quality images and sound, Proffitt said.

A patrol officer spotted Peeples driving the Toyota. There was a short pursuit, and Peeples was taken into custody, Proffitt said. Peeples gave police Mullens' location, and he was arrested, Proffitt said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com. WFLA reporter Peter Bernard contributed to this report.

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