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Reward Offered In Robberies, Shootings At 2 St. Pete Stores

Surveillance Photo

Police released this surveillance photo from the burglary at the Suhani Food Store, 2539 Martin Luther King Jr.

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TBO.com

Published: December 8, 2008

Updated: 12/08/2008 04:01 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - A reward of $5,000 is being offered for information leading to arrests and convictions in the robbery and shootings of two brothers last week at their respective convenience stores.

The reward is being offered by the Asian American Convenience Store Association and the Indian group, Gujarati Samaj of Tampa Bay, said St. Petersburg Police Department spokesman Bill Proffitt.

Police, meanwhile, are distributing a list of crime prevention tips to every convenience store in the city, Proffitt said. Police hope to visit each story by midnight.

Proffitt said convenience store owners could be more careful with their cash, and put a sign in their windows saying there is no more than $50 on the premises.

With each visit by police, convenience store owners will be given photos and descriptions of the two men behind both shootings, Proffitt said.

Sid Shah, the spokesman for both groups offering the reward, said the money is intended to serve as an incentive for the suspects' family members or neighbors to turn them in.

"It is very disturbing to us, we are very distressed," Shah said. "The whole community is very distressed to learn that these people are so badly hurt and still they are not caught."

On Dec. 1, Narendra Patel was shot at Star Deli Food Store, 2451 Fifth Ave. N., which he owns. He has been released from Bayfront Medical Center. His brother, Indravadan Patel, was shot Wednesday at Suhani Food Store, 2539 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N., which Indravadan owns. He remains hospitalized.

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