7.23.2009

store owner shot dead in struggle

Another Korean American store owner killed in Philadelphia... Last weekend, Jongyoun Kim was shot to death on the sidewalk outside her corner shop, Andy's Food Market in East Mount Airy: East Mt. Airy shop owner shot dead.

Police arrested 27-year-old Nicole Dolby-Beckam, who lived only two blocks away from the store, on homicide and weapons charges. She had apparently been previously banned from the store for shoplifting, but later allowed to return.

Witnesses say that Dolby-Becham had opened a bag of chips from the store and had walked out without paying for it, and that Kim followed her outside with a gun.

The suspect hit Kim and knocked her to the ground. She then took the gun, stood over her, and opened fire "execution style." Dolby-Becham called police herself from a pay phone outside of the store, and was arrested around the corner.

Affectionately known around the neighborhood as 'Ms. Kim,' she left behind her 70-year-old husband, two adult children and a community that loved her. More here: Customer is charged in slaying of beloved store owner.

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