15-Year-Old Arrested In Miami Gardens Gas Station Owner's Death
MIAMI GARDENS – (CBS4) – Police say the 15-year-old boy charged with the murder of a popular gas station owner confronted the victim as he sat in his car after he had finished working his late night shift.
The new details of the shooting were released Friday in an arrest affidavit which released more information about the shooting that occurred August 11th. It killed 58-year-old Shahid Mahmood. He was shot several times while sitting in his car allegedly by the teen because the teen allegedly "had beef with him," police said.
On Friday, police identified the murder suspect as Damu Bridgewater who had just turned 15 on July 25th. Bridgewater lives just blocks away from Mahmood's Amerika Gas Station at 15685 NW 22nd Avenue. Bridgewater also faces an attempted armed robbery charge. He is being held at a juvenile assessment facility. The arrest affidavit also says a second witness told police that the teen suspect had bragged about committing the crime.
"It's sad. He was making a living, doing his business," said Khalid Ansari, the victim's friend.
The shooting occurred at 12:58 a.m. just as Mahmood had wrapped up his night shift. He was planning to go home to his family in Miramar. But he would never arrive. Instead, he was shot to death while sitting in his driver's seat.
A recently released arrest affidavit states Bridgewater confronted Mahmood while he was in his car after finishing his night shift.
"It was at that time that the suspect in this case yells give it up, give it up. When the witness came he said leave that guy alone, the suspect fires shooting the victim in the chest," said Sgt. Bill Bamford of the Miami Gardens Police Department. "This should have never happened. He was a good man, a family man who did good work in the community and he was killed."
Meanwhile, a clerk at the Amerika Gas Station expressed relief about the arrest.
"We're pretty much happy that they caught a guy who was from this area. It means one less bad guy on the street," Nash Harripersad, an Amerika Station clerk.
Hours after his death, Mahmood's niece Rabia Mahmood spoke with D'Oench and tearfully said, "It wasn't his time. He shouldn't have gone like this. His life was taken away from him. He was very, very loving to our entire family. He's going to be missed."
His best friend, Khalid Javed, said he can't believe Mahmood is gone.
"(He was a) very good guy," Javed said. "Everybody loved him in the neighborhood."
Friends and family described the committed husband and father as a kind, loving man with no enemies.
Khalid Ansari, who lived near Mahmood, said, "He was a good guy. He was a gentleman. I am shocked."
Mahmood and his partner ran the store for only 8 months, the partner told D'Oench.
"If you look at their family now, they are miserable. They can't do anything. He was the only one earning money," said family friend Rukhsana Ansari.
Sources told D'Oench that Mahmood and the suspect had some sort of dispute that may have involved property.
