The life of a 28-year-old African immigrant was cut short following a fatal gas station robbery in New York City last week, reports DNAinfo.com.
Local officers have now arrested suspect Freddie McGrier, 21, in the deadly shooting of Lamin Sillah, a recent Gambian transplant who put himself through school and sent money to his wife and family back home by working as a gas station attendant in the Bronx.
Graphic surveillance video footage showed McGrier struggling with and shooting Sillah several times in the torso inside the station on September 4 at approximately 9:40 p.m., after robbing another attendant working outside for $30. Sillah died later at a local hospital. Officers have charged McGrier with murder, criminal possession of a weapon and robbery.
Sillah had been in New York City for seven months prior to his death, during which he studied for an accounting degree by day while working the late shift in the evening.
“He was a friendly guy, honest,” gas station owner Robert Calcano, 60, told DNAinfo.com. “He did whatever we told him to. He came here every day on time.”
Police state that McGrier was on parole for another robbery at the time of the shooting, according to the New York Post. Law enforcement source revealed his rap sheet to the paper, which includes five previous robbery arrests. His look-out accomplice has yet to be identified and captured, police also told reporters.
Sillah’s funeral, held in New York City last weekend, reportedly drew hundreds of mourners, many of whom did not know him personally.
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