No Motive Yet In Clerk's Slaying
Man Arrested, Booked On First-Degree Murder Charge
POSTED: 8:06 am MST August 4,
2008
UPDATED: 5:47 pm MST August 4,
2008
PHOENIX -- A man who police said walked into a 7-Eleven carrying a 2-year-old with a 6-year-old in tow and shot and killed a convenience store clerk has been arrested, investigators say.
Officers arrested and charged Jermaine Canada, 27, with first-degree murder. A resident called 911 around 9 a.m. on Monday and reported seeing a man matching the description of the gunman in the 2600 block of W. Camelback Road, police said.
"The children were not with him at the time he was taken into custody, and that was a great concern for us," said Detective Stacie Derge with the Phoenix Police Department. "We didn't know where those kids were, but thankfully the kids are OK and they are in the custody of their mother."
The man had a brief conversation with the 7-Eleven clerk around 2:15 a.m. and then opened fire while holding the 2-year-old child, killing the 62-year-old clerk, officers said. He then walked out of the store at 2651 W. Glendale Ave. with the children, who did not appear to be injured, police said.
"The suspect was only in the store for a matter of seconds -- maybe a minute -- but not very long at all," said Phoenix Police Department spokeswoman Stacy Derge. "We don't know exactly ... how long it was that the clerk was in there before the customer found him."
According to police, robbery does not appear to be a motive.
Canada's picture was captured on surveillance tape inside the store, officers said.
When police arrested him, he was wearing the same orange shorts seen in the video, officers said.
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Store's Surveillance Tape
