Man dies after being stabbed at east Fort Worth store

FORT WORTH -- A 48-year-old store clerk died early Tuesday after he was stabbed multiple times at an east-side food store, police said.

Police, meanwhile, were looking for an attacker who wore a blue hooded sweatshirt with tan stripes, according to a witness.

The clerk, identified by the Tarrant County medical examiner's office as Jasbahadur Rai, was taken by ambulance to John Peter Smith Hospital where he died, said Sgt. J.D. Thornton of the homicide unit.

The medical examiner ruled that he died from a stab wound to the chest.

Police were called to the stabbing at 6:56 a.m. by a vendor who came to the TL Food Store, 3237 E. Lancaster Ave., and saw the clerk staggering toward him.

"He told the vendor he had been stabbed," Thornton said.

The vendor, Thornton added, also noticed the apparent suspect behind the counter "rifling through stuff."

The vendor returned to his car and watched the suspect leave the store and then walk west out of view, behind a blue sports utility vehicle in the parking lot, Thornton said.

It was unclear if the suspect got into the SUV, because the vendor didn't see that happen, but the vehicle was driven out of the parking lot, Thornton said.

The victim staggered out of the store and collapsed, Thornton said.

Christina Vo, owner of the store, said the victim had worked there for as long as she owned it -- about four years.

She said the man's nephew told her that he apparently called him either after or during the robbery.

"He said he was making wheezing sounds and the phone got disconnected," Vo said.

The nephew tried to call his uncle back, but the line was busy, Vo said.

"He thought he was playing a prank," she added.

The suspect, Thornton said, was described as a black male, 6 feet tall and 170 pounds.

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