3 dead in shooting at grocery store in Montgomery

MONTGOMERY, Alabama — Three people were killed at a Montgomery convenience store Tuesday night, an outbreak of violence that followed a series of robberies at Latino-owned businesses in Alabama’s capital city.

The shooting at Tienda Los Hermanos, a grocery store on the city’s south side, came just hours after the city’s mayor urged City Council members to support a $6 million proposal for a community-based intervention program to combat crime in Montgomery.

“People who are working in their community and trying to make ends meet from day to day, week to week, should not be exploited. And that’s exactly what we saw last night,” Mayor Steven Reed said during a press conference Wednesday.

Reed said the city will use all available resources to find the perpetrator and those who “target Latino and Hispanic businesses throughout the community.”

Police Major Saba Coleman said officers responded to a report of shots fired just before 9 p.m. Tuesday. Two people died at the scene. A third man was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Montgomery Deputy Police Chief John Hall identified the victims as George Elijah Jr., 50, Daniel Lopez, 20, and Romero Lopez, 43. Reed said two of the shooting victims were family members and the third person was there “just to do a little shopping” and chat with store employees.

Hall said police are investigating whether the shooting was connected to other crimes targeting Latino-owned businesses.

Maribel Lopez, who said she was the owner of the business, told WSFA that her brother and nephew were among the dead.

“I can’t think of anything else at the moment,” she told the station. She said the store had been robbed or broken into at least six times in the past.

“We need to speak up,” Lopez said. “Everyone needs to speak up and let the city know that we’re here and we need to look out for each other. We need to get their attention so they can start working on this.”

Bouquets of flowers and candles were placed in front of the grocery store on Wednesday in remembrance.

City Councilman Oronde Mitchell, who represents the area, said the shooting occurred during a robbery at the store. Mitchell noted that the crimes targeted Hispanic-owned businesses in the area, where customers are believed to be more likely to pay with cash rather than debit cards or other electronic payment methods.

Mitchell said the city needs to work harder to build community trust and take further steps to combat crime in the city.

During the press conference, a spokesperson for a Spanish-language radio station asked city officials about their concerns that police were slow or not responding to calls from members of the Latino community. Hall said the city is working to improve response times across the city. He said he would investigate whether calls were being ignored.