Emil Salem, a 50-year-old Chaldean party store owner, was fatally shot during an armed robbery at Bernie's Market in Clinton Township, Michigan, on March 26, 2015. Salem had owned and operated the store for nearly two decades. Investigators reported he exchanged gunfire with his assailant and a trail of blood from the scene suggested the shooter was wounded during the confrontation.

That wounded suspect was later located at a Toledo, Ohio, hospital and identified as 31-year-old Ujuan Burton of Oak Park. Two other people were linked to the crime: 30-year-old Shardae Burt of Detroit, who drove Burton to the Ohio hospital after the robbery, and 30-year-old Albert McKinley of Detroit, identified as the getaway driver who waited while the robbery was carried out.

Burton was convicted of felony murder, armed robbery, and multiple firearms charges and received life in prison. McKinley was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and conspiracy and was sentenced to life without parole. Burt was convicted of accessory after the fact and received one year in jail plus five years probation.