‘This Is a Tragedy': Gas Station Clerk Gunned Down During Armed Robbery

A well-known store clerk at a Northeast Philadelphia gas station who was concerned over crime in the city was shot and killed during a robbery early Tuesday morning. A customer called the killing "senseless."

Philadelphia police officers rushed to the Exxon station along Torresdale Avenue at Friendship Street just after 4 a.m. to find the worker unresponsive and bleeding in the office area of mini market, Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said.

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The man -- later identified by police as 67-year-old Siboram Patro -- had appeared to be shot once in the back. Officers began to rush Patro out of the store, but it was too late, Small said. Medics pronounced Patro dead minutes later.

Police say the killers broke down a door into secure cash register area, attacked the victim before killing him. His body is still lying in the doorway, friends say he was a kind man who often worried about the constant crime plaguing gas stations citywide @NBCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/NH25hFQ7Kw

— Randy Gyllenhaal (@RandyGyllenhaal) January 17, 2023

"This is a tragedy," Small said.

Surveillance video captured the deadly shooting inside the Galati Bros. Food Market, investigators said.

"You can clearly see three males enter the property... they all had masks covering their faces," Small said.

The three men -- one in a puffy red coat, the other two in dark puffy jackets -- forced a locked door to the employee only office area open, Small said. They then attacked the store clerk and one of them fired a single shot.

"After he collapses, you can see one of the perpetrators then remove the cash register from the office and then take it from the property," Small said.

Police hoped outside surveillance cameras could help them track down a getaway vehicle.

Officers in the area knew the late-night clerk of the 24/7 gas station and market, Small said. Co-workers told NBC10 that there was bulletproof glass and other security measures in place at the store after previous violent crimes in the area.

Patro -- who colleagues said was known as "Pat" -- had just recently returned from a trip to India, the store owner said.

"My heart is breaking for him, his family," a neighbor said while describing the worker as a hard worker who would help out the community. "There was no reason, senseless."