Two people, including a store clerk on his second day at the job, were killed after a stabbing inside an Atlantic City food market led to a police-involved shooting.
Officers responded to the Cedar Market at Pennsylvania and Adriatic Avenues just after 9 a.m. Tuesday following a robbery call.
Sources said a man used a knife to stab 29-year-old Peter Fareg. The clerk died from his injuries, according to sources. The store's owner Nimer Nammour told NBC10 it was only Fareg's second day working at the market. He had just started Monday after visiting his family in Egypt.
The unidentified suspect was a frequent customer who was well-known to residents in the surrounding community, according to Nammour. Nammour says the suspect wasn't trying to rob the place and he never demanded any money. A witness believes he was upset about a sandwich that was made for him Monday.
"He walked into the store," Nammour said. "The employee was doing the coffee. So he stabbed him. According to one lady that was inside the store when he tried to walk out he said, 'one down, two to go.'"
Around a dozen people, including a 12-year-old girl, were inside the store at the time. Witnesses told NBC10 the suspect broke the glass as he left but calmly walked outside where he was met by police.
The officers ordered the suspect to drop the knife when he left the store, according to witnesses. Police opened fire releasing about eight rounds after the suspect allegedly refused to drop the weapon. The suspect later died from his wounds. He has not yet been identified. A law enforcement source told NBC10 he recently served jail time on drug charges.
Fareg's roommate Abram Abdelmaseh told NBC10 the victim left Egypt for America because he faced discrimination and intimidation in his homeland.
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"He escaped from violence to face his death here," Abdelmaseh said.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office continues to investigate the incident.
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