India Post News Service
ST. LOUIS: The Indian community in St. Louis was shocked to learn that one of its community members engaged in grocery business was killed last week in an apparent robbery attempt that failed. Jivabhai Patel,47, of Chesterfield who owned and ran Rock Bottom Wholesale at 1120 Howard Street was shot dead along with one of his employees Barbara Ablen, 60.
Jivabhai’s daughter in law Nimisha Patel was shot in the leg and was taken to a near by hospital. She is six months pregnant but is reported to be out of danger at this time.
This happened on Monday, May 12. Police are still trying to sort out details, but they said three men entered about 12:30 p.m. Monday and fired several shots in a back room killing Patel and a female employee. The Police believe the motive was robbery but it was unclear what, if anything was taken. The officers are reviewing surveillance video from inside the business.
Witnesses near Rock Bottom Wholesale provided police with a partial license plate number of a white car that fled the scene; a matching car was found moments later, at nearby Biddle and Bryant streets. A handgun was found near the car, according to Police sources, although was not immediately known whether the gun was used in the crime.
The St. Louis circuit attorney’s office has charged Jerome W. Jones, 26, of the 5300 block of Emerson Avenue, and Brian D. Mann, 22, of the 4200 block of East Kossuth Avenue, each with two counts of murder, assault, robbery and armed criminal action. Each is being held without bail in the St. Louis Justice Center.
Police said that a third suspect was being questioned in the case but had not been charged. According to family sources, no one resisted in the robbery, and no one put up a fight. The intruders just started shooting. They never gave the folks a chance, the sources added. It is said the suspects wore ski masks during the alleged robbery, so the family isn’t sure who the third suspect is. The timing of the robbery leads them to think someone may have had inside information. "It seemed to coincide with when they were going to be making the deposit — four days worth of proceeds," said Jay Kanzler, an attorney for the Patel family.
"Somebody had some information or it’s a horrible coincidence." The gunfire that killed Patel and an employee, Barbara Abel, of Arnold, was just part of another heartbreaking day in a violent spring for St. Louis that reported two other shootings on the same day that left three dead Jivabhai Patel had been in St. Louis, according to relatives, for the past over two decades. He emigrated from Mehsana district in Gujarat.
He was very soft spoken and endeared himself well with his customers. They showed up throughout the day driving vans and trucks, only to be sent away by grieving relatives. Patel’s extended family, and about a dozen relatives, flocked to the store when they heard the news, asking police officers to let them see Jack Patel’s body before it went to the morgue.
Jivabhai’s cousin Pete Patel said that he moved to St. Louis about 25 years ago and owns another wholesale business in St. Louis with his brother, Kanu, who is known as Ken. The brothers bought Rock Bottom about a year ago, Pete Patel said. It sold items such as candy and cigarettes to convenience stores but was not open to the public for retail.
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