Boston convenience store owners are demanding more from law enforcement

BOSTON — Convenience store owners from the Boston area met with the Boston Police Commissioner on Wednesday afternoon looking for answers and ways to keep their stores and employees safe.

Store owners say that after what happened to a Roxbury store clerk who was shot in the head during a robbery, they have been living in fear. They say they are struggling to put food on the table because of the pandemic and now they’re scared to stay open, in fear of violence.

“How am I going to survive, maintain my family?” said Abdul Matin, a store owner.

Matin’s family hopes he’ll come home safe every night after work.

He owns M & R convenience store on Shawmut avenue in Roxbury.

Matin is just one of the many convenience store owners in the Boston area that met with Commissioner William Gross on Wednesday afternoon. They say Mayor Marty Walsh and Gross are trying to come up with a plan to keep them protected.

“We all scared right now,” said Francisco Marte, the President of the Boston Convenience stores.

“We are operating our store 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., before sunset we close,” said Matin.

Matin was there the night his employee, 25-year-old Tanjim Siam, was shot.

Police say the gunman walked in, robbed the store and then made Siam get down on his knees before shooting him in the head twice.

Two bullets remain lodged in his head and he is currently fighting for his life after being put on life support.

“We want to see the suspect, we want more security,” said Matin.

Humayun Morshed is the secretary for the Boston convenience stores owners association who says police are expected to patrol more frequently.

“If we have any issue we will have the phone exchange, [we’ll] call them directly,” said Morshed.

As their families fear they will be next, Siam’s mother, father, and brothers are going through the pain in their native Bangladesh.

Siam came to the U.S. just 4 months ago in hopes of going to school and getting an education.

The money Siam earned he would send back to his family so they could have a better life. And his family, along with the mayor, hope the gunman is caught.

“I think they’ll be able to make some announcements in that case really soon,” said Walsh on Tuesday.

Everyone is still waiting to hear about an arrest.

Boston 25 News Reporter Malini Basu has been communicating with Siam’s mother in their native Bengali language as she is waiting to hear news about her son and the suspect involved. The family just got their visas approved and they are hoping to come see their son very soon.

Friends have set up a go fund me page for Siam’s family which you can help by clicking here.

Cox Media Group