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Family of 64-year-old clerk killed in Detroit robbery wants answers

Behnam Rasho
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DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit police are asking for your help finding the man who shot and killed a store employee simply to steal the cash register.

It happened just after 9 p.m. Monday at Andy’s Market on Detroit's west side near 8 Mile and Greenfield roads.

Family has identified the victim as 64-year-old Behnam Rasho.

"It was just so surreal, I couldn't believe it," the victims son Jonathon Rasho said. "I was shocked.”

Jonathon Rasho got a call that something happened to his father, so he rushed over to Andy’s Market in Detroit where his father worked looking for answers.

“I pulled up, seen the yellow tape and all the officers surrounding the store, and I immediately got out and started yelling, 'Where's my dad, where’s my dad?'” Jonathon Rasho said.

His father was an employee at the store and had just stepped out from behind the counter when a customer pulled out a gun, shot him and killed him. The suspect then pointed the gun at another employee and ran off with two drawers from the cash register.

“My dad died for a couple hundred dollars or whatever he took," Jonathon Rasho said. "Whatever he thought it was worth — my dads life — it isn’t.”

He says his father came to Detroit from Iraq in 1980, working hard to support his family and spending time with his children and grandchildren.

“That person that makes everyone laugh, the person who always has something funny to say, the person who always has your back no matter what,” Jonathon Rasho said of his dad.

Jonathon Rasho and the police are sharing a photo of the suspect hoping to find him. While Benham’s life may have been worth a few hundred dollars to the suspect, to his son, it meant the world.

“No amount of money on this planet is worth anyone's life," Jonathon Rasho said. "I just want people to know that he died in cold blood and I do not wish that upon anybody.”

The suspect is not in custody as of Tuesday evening. Police are asking anyone with information to contact them at 313-267-4600. You can also make an anonymous tip by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800- SPEAK-UP.