Indian-American Amit Patel shot dead in US

NEW YORK: A 28-year-old Indian-American businessman, who was gunned down by an unidentified assailant in his family-owned liquor shop in the US, has succumbed to his injuries, police said today.

Amit Patel from Edison was shot and killed in New Jersey inside Roseway Liquors in Irvington yesterday.

Patel was alone in the liquor store, owned by his father, when the assailant shot at him at close range, police said.

There was no damage to the store or indication of a robbery and only one shot was fired, they said.

When police arrived at the store, they found Patel injured from a gunshot wound. He was later pronounced dead, acting Essex county prosecutor Carolyn A Murray and acting Irvington police director Musa Malik said in a statement.

According to close family friends, Amit's father was in the back office when the shooting took place.

"Somebody came in, shot him... fell down here," family friend Rakesh Patel said.

"We don't know if it was a robbery, nobody knows. They were alone here," Bimal Patel, another family friend, was quoted as saying by nj.com.

"He was a nice guy. I don't know what happened. Everybody's nervous," he said.

The victim got married only a year ago. Authorities said they were looking into whether the shooting may have been the result of a robbery, but said it was too early in the investigation to be sure.

The CCTV camera footage will be examined for any leads in the case, in which no arrests have been made so far.