Mainank Mike Patel, 36, was fatally shot during an attempted robbery at his Tobacco House store at 2580 Airport Road in Salisbury, North Carolina, on August 13, 2024. Deputies responded to a 911 hang-up call around 11:18 a.m.; Patel was found with multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to Novant Health Rowan Medical Center, then transferred to Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, where he died. Surveillance shows a tall, slender person in black shorts, a black hoodie, a black ski mask and white Nike sneakers with burgundy logos leaving the store with a handgun. K-9 teams and a State Highway Patrol helicopter searched the area that day.

A juvenile male was arrested that evening; later reports identified him as 16-year-old Jhack Aaron Pless, charged as an adult with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon and held on $850,000 secured bond at Stonewall Jackson Youth Development Center in Concord. Patel, who emigrated from Vadodara, India in 2007 to study computer science, managed the store and was known in the community as Mike. He is survived by his wife Ami, who was seven-and-a-half months pregnant, and their 5-year-old daughter; a fundraiser was organized to support the family.

Any readers who knew Mike or have information about the shooting are asked to come forward.