Nazir Ahmad, 68, was working overnight at a Valero Food Mart on Brentwood Road in Northeast Washington, D.C., when he was shot and killed during an attempted robbery on November 3, 2018. Surveillance shows a man took the store cash register and, after finding the front door locked, was confronted by Ahmad as he emerged from an employee area. Ahmad retreated into an employee room and shut the door; the suspect fired through that door, striking Ahmad. Police found Ahmad inside the locked employee room with multiple gunshot wounds and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators followed a trail from the store to a nearby McDonald’s where coins from the stolen register and a baseball cap with DNA were recovered. The DNA linked 32-year-old Demetrius Pierce to the scene; he was arrested on November 27, 2018, and charged with second-degree murder while armed. Later court filings report a guilty plea to second-degree murder, possession of a prohibited weapon, and simple assault as part of a plea deal that specified a 20-year expected sentence.

Did anyone who knew Nazir or worked in that neighborhood see anything unusual that morning or recognize the suspect’s movements before or after the robbery?