WASHINGTON — A gas station clerk was shot and killed while working at an Anne Arundel County store early Thursday morning. The shooter is at large.
Anne Arundel County police received a 911 call from a customer at the Exxon gas station located at 7898 Ridge Road in Hanover at about 1:30 a.m. saying the clerk was injured an unconscious. When police arrived at the scene, they found 49-year- old Rajinder “Raj” Kumar, a Glen Burnie resident, dead from apparent gunshot wounds.
“This appears to be just a stone cold murder,” said Police Lt. T.J. Smith.
Police say surveillance video at the gas station showed a man entering the store and shooting the clerk at about 1 a.m. The video shows the man shooting the clerk completely unprovoked, Smith says.
The man took an undetermined amount of cash from behind the counter and fled on foot.
The man’s whereabouts were not known, police say.
“It was a brazen cold-hearted robbery and a cold-hearted murder,” Smith said.
Kumar’s housemate Jagdeep Singh calls the death “a shame, a big loss.”
Singh tells ABC7, “He was a very nice guy. Nice talking, hard worker, and a good friend, too.”
The suspect is described as having an average build. He wore a dark hooded sweatshirt and tan or light-colored shorts at the time. His age was not known.
Police are also looking for several people who may have witnessed the killing. They were in a dark-colored Range Rover that may have had New Jersey plates. Police previously said they were in a Jeep Patriot or Jeep Cherokee or a similar vehicle but that is no longer believed to be true.
Customers described Kumar as trusting and kind.
“This is devastating,” explained Nabeel Malik, who owns the Exxon station. “Just take the money — why did they have to shoot somebody?”
The gas station was closed through Thursday morning.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Jack Hartzell at 410-222-3460.
View a map with the location of the shooting:
WTOP’s Nick Iannelli contributed to this report.
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