Missouri City residents saddened by murder of popular store clerk

By KAREN HASTINGS CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT

Oct. 2, 2008, 7:33AM

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Suzanne Rehak For the Chronicle

Store patrons of First Food Stop, 2563 Cartwright Road in Missouri City, stop to read notes of condolences taped to the front door and to offer words of sympathy to others who remember Ashok Bhattarai, 21, a store clerk from Nepal who was killed Sunday night by a robber. Ashok always had a smile, according to patrons.

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Missouri City was in mourning Wednesday for a convenience store clerk who dreamed of being a biomedical engineer, but who had already touched many lives with his generous nature and friendly charm.

Quail Valley-area customers streamed Wednesday into the First Food Stop store at 2563 Cartwright, the first day the store reopened after the weekend robbery-murder of popular clerk Ashok Bhattarai, 21. Each visitor had a story to tell about the handsome young community college student from Nepal with the bright smile and easy manner.

“He knew all his customers by name. He always knew what you wanted before you got to the counter,” said customer Jeannie Bryant. “It just breaks my heart. I am so sorry.”

“Nobody who came to this store was a stranger to him,” agreed neighborhood resident Eleanor Barnes. “Everybody is in shock.”

Outside, a growing memorial of teddy bears, flowers, candles, cards and other items was testament to Ashok’s many admirers. A spontaneous gathering of several hundred mourners met in the parking lot outside the store Tuesday night.

Store owner Moiz “Mike” Maknojia is collecting donations for a fund to pay for shipping Bhattarai’s body home to Nepal. Barnes said she handed out 600 fliers about the fund Tuesday night.

A memorial service is planned for 6 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot at First Food Stop. City Council members and representatives of the Missouri City Police Department will attend.

“I’m sure his mother is wondering, ‘What kind of place is this?’ ” said Barnes, who is helping organize the memorial service. “We want her to know that Missouri City is a good city. We value life and we valued him. He will go home with our love.”

Police, who have released a video of the shooting, say the killer opened fire as soon as he walked into the store just after 10 p.m. Sunday. The store safe was open and the killer took $5,000, said detective R. Terry.

Ashok’s body was found by a customer; a co-worker stocking merchandise in the back was unaware of what had happened, police said.

Standing outside the store Wednesday morning, Rangon Bhattarai seemed as overwhelmed by the public outpouring for his cousin Ashok as the crime itself.

“It’s moving,” he said of the First Stop memorial, and by the expressions of sadness he is hearing this week. “You can just see volumes about what the people thought of him and what kind of person he was.”

To the cousin fell the sad duty earlier this week of calling Ashok’s family in the southern Nepalese town of Parasi.

“They are shocked, but they are holding up,” Rangon said. “His parents want his body back home.”

Rangon said he and Ashok arrived in the United States in January 2007. Ashok was a student at Houston Community College, with plans to transfer to a university and study biomedical engineering. He has a mother, father, younger brother and older sister in Nepal.

More than anger over a neighborhood crime, residents who spoke Wednesday were saddened by the loss of a young man whose modest position in life had not stopped him from making a strong impression.

“He was a beautiful guy. He could have been an Indian movie star,” said Carolyn Carroll. “He struck me as an unusually bright guy.”

“He was a good kid and he didn’t deserve to die like this,” said Barnes, who reports shock and dismay from all segments of the Missouri City community. “I had grown men out here crying in their cars. Black, white, Hispanic, Asian.”

Visitors to the store Wednesday said Ashok knew each customer as an individual, and also their purchasing habits. One of the sympathy cards taped outside the store was signed, “Marlboro Lights Soft Pack.”

“I never did know his name, but he knew mine,” said customer Mel Bethea, who lives in the area. “He asked me one day and from that day forward, he was, ‘Hey Mel!’”

Alfred Free, who walks with a cane, said Ashok frequently would carry his bag of ice or other purchases to his car. Ruby Duffy said her 7-year-old son, who lost his father this year, decided that the ceramic doves he originally intended to put on his father’s grave should be left at the store memorial for Ashok instead.

“My baby loved him. He cried for days,” she said. “You couldn’t have found a nicer young man.”

Several customers who saw Ashok Sunday, only a few hours before the shooting, mentioned he was wearing the native cap of Nepal for the first time that day. He was taking delight in explaining what it was and the meaning behind its silver insignia, they said.

“I could also count on a joke and a smile when I came in,” read a card from “Kam.” “This is completely senseless and I am so very sorry. This neighborhood will not forget you.”

A trust has been established at Wells Fargo Bank, account number 7553951018, to raise money for his funeral and other expenses.

The Nepalese Association of Houston is also taking donations to help pay to send Bhattarai's body home.