Bridgeport police are looking for the two people who they say walked into a neighborhood grocery store then shot and killed the popular owner.
His family and friends in the Portuguese community are mourning his death.
“I can’t believe it. Today, somebody killed my friend,” says Arminda Bereira, who works at Solmar restaurant.
Workers and customers at the Portuguese restaurant Solmar remembered the man who would deliver groceries here.
Police say the 58-year-old man, whose name they are not releasing yet, was shot Saturday afternoon at the store he owns, Sapiao’s Grocery Store.
On a sidewalk outside the store on Lexington Avenue, he was found by a regular customer, who asked for his identity to be hidden.
“I performed CPR and I did everything I possibly could,” says the customer.
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But the owner did not survive.
Police say this could have been the result of a robbery gone bad. They report two people wearing hooded sweatshirts had entered the store, shot the owner, ran down Linen Avenue, and then jumped into a car.
This comes two and a half weeks after another Bridgeport store worker was shot and killed.
In the case at T. Market on Reservoir Avenue, police did not believe robbery was the motive.
Now, neighbors and friends in the Portuguese community say the owner of Sapiao’s had run the store with his wife for decades.
“I’m devastated. I’m devastated. I’ve known him for too many years. A lot of people, he was a great guy. I mean he would help anybody,” says Tony Jose of West Haven.
