NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. - A vigil was held Friday night for a beloved shopkeeper, who was shot and killed at his convenience store on Thanksgiving eve.
Those who grieved the loss of Ahmad Alsaid gathered in the cold outside the Bridgeway Market, remembering a man who they say had become part of the fabric of their east side neighborhood.
“Alsaid was like a grandfather to me,” recalled Vincent Laberdee, who lives near the store at the corner of Niagara Street and Memorial Parkway. “He gave me a lot of life lessons.”
Known to many by his nickname, "Poppy", Ahmad Alsaid was shot during an apparent robbery attempt at his store on November 21.
Inside the store, where customers have left handwritten notes of condolence, employee Christopher Thurston stood at the spot near the rear of the store, and recalled how two armed bandits burst into the store.
As one of them held a gun on him, Thurston recalled that the other one attempted to get behind the counter where Alsaid was standing.
According to Thurston, Poppy fought with the robber before being shot. Alsaid was rushed to ECMC, where he died.
A Jordanian immigrant, Alsaid was the father of 11 children and lived the American dream, according to Thurston.
“He most certainly did. He came here and he worked really hard,” Thurston said.
According to Thurston, Alsaid never worried about his own safety in what could diplomatically be described as a rough neighborhood.
“He thought the community needed him…a lot of people depended on Poppy," Thurston said.
Those included many over the years who did not always have the means to pay for groceries, but who left the store with foodstuffs on their word that they would pay Alsaid back whenever the might be able to
“Poppy would help out anybody," Thurston said.
“The last week has been the toughest week of our lives,” said Alsaid’s widow, Colleen, who attended the vigil, and whose sadness is turning now toward a quest for justice, noting police have yet to apprehend anyone in connection with her husband’s murder.
“I’m at the point where I realize he’s not coming home…so we now need to find out who did this, and to stop them from doing this to someone else’s' family," she said, urging anyone with information to contact police immediately.
According to Thurston, the entire time between when the robbers entered the store and when they fled after the shooting, was perhaps no longer than 40 seconds. He said that a store surveillance camera captured the incident, and the footage was taken as evidence by police.