Mon Rai, 30, had arrived in St. Louis only months earlier through resettlement efforts and was working overnight shifts as a 7-Eleven clerk while his wife neared the end of her pregnancy. Just after midnight on June 10, 2013, a gunman entered the store near Gravois Avenue and Bates Street. Rai was shot during what investigators described as a robbery attempt; customers found him inside and he was taken for medical care but did not survive.

Initial reports said nothing obvious had been taken from the store, not even money from the register, and surveillance images released by police were described as blurry. No suspect name was reported in the days after the shooting, and detectives appealed to the public for information. Community members and refugee advocates helped raise money for the family, and 7-Eleven publicized a reward.

Rai’s daughter was born in the week following the shooting, a birth that arrived amid both grief and support. If anyone has information about that night or recognizes the person in the surveillance images, please come forward.