Sanjay Patel, 39, was working alone as a clerk at the Pay Rite Food Store inside a Citgo on Forbes Avenue in New Haven on the evening of April 6, 2015, when two masked, armed men entered to rob the store. A struggle occurred and Patel was shot multiple times, including three times in the chest and once in the hand. He was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital and died about an hour later. The robbers fled with money and a box of cigars.

By May 2015 investigators had identified three local suspects: Dwayne Sayles, Jamal Sumler, and Leighton Vanderberg. Authorities concluded Sayles and Sumler were the two who entered the store and shot Patel, while Vanderberg acted as the getaway driver. Legal proceedings that followed resulted in lengthy prison sentences for all three men.

Patel’s wife, Bhavana Chavada, was six and a half months pregnant with their first child at the time; neighbors remembered Patel for his kindness and for giving children free candy. Does anyone have memories of Patel or additional information about that night?