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Who is killing immigrants in Houston?

R S Shankar

If Thankachan Mathai had not fumbled and had opened the cash register fast enough, he would perhaps be alive today.

But the slender, six-feet-tall man who wanted Mathai's money had no patience.

The African American man allegedly killed 57-year-old Mathai and his 50-year-old wife Achamma -- and rode off empty-handed in a car he stole outside their shop.

Authorities believe there is no racism at play in the murders but to over 60,000 immigrants from the Indian sub-continent living in and around Houston, the murder of five immigrants including one from Lebanon is sending the message that some perpetrators think immigrant lives are cheap.

More than 3,000 Houston-area convenience stores and gas stations are owned by Pakistanis, and about 600 by Indians. At least 17,000 Pakistanis and several thousand Indians work in these shops.

Masrur Khan, who heads a Pakistani organization, said that many robbers think the immigrants are meek and helpless. The perpetrators would think ten times before they attack a non-immigrant shop, several people in the community said.

What has made the situation more worrisome is that three more convenience store clerks had been killed in two separate attacks, bringing the total to five within a week. Police suspect at least two of the attacks could be related.

Witnesses say a man entered a Phillips 66 store about 8 pm on Wednesday and fired his handgun at Khalid Masroor, 32, who was working behind the counter. He then turned towards Syed Mehdi, 46, who was stocking shelves, and shot him many times. Masroor died at the scene; Mehdi died an hour later after being taken to a hospital.

Witness descriptions of a slender black man are similar to that of the suspect in the Saturday slayings of the Mathai couple.

On Wednesday night, Jamal Labdi, 37, was killed during a store robbery. Going by eyewitness accounts, police said that they do not suspect that the murder of Labdi is connected to the other four. But the alleged perpetrator is also an African American.

Schepp's Dairy, which gives rewards related to crime detection in Houston, has offered $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of one or more suspects involved in the five slayings.

But to many immigrants it is the future that worries. Many work in convenience stores to supplement their incomes.

In recent months, scores of convenience store workers have complained of being beaten up or robbed, and they say hardly any arrest has taken place. Working behind plexi booths is not a consolation, they say, as the robbers at times wait for the workers to come out of the store and then force them back and order them to open the cash registers.

The sales clerks are deeply worried at the increasing audacity of the attacks which have been taking place as early as 7 pm. Some clerks suspect that last year alone, stores have lost nearly half a million dollars due to vandalism, theft and robbery.

"Police are quick enough to fine us if they find out we have sold cigarettes to minors," said one sales clerk. "But ask them how many people have they arrested for robbing us, for beating us and for killing us?"

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