Irvington liquor store worker fatally shot inside family business

IRVINGTON (WABC) -- A liquor store worker in New Jersey was gunned down inside his family business.

28-year-old Amit Patel of Edison was shot and killed inside Roseway Liquors in Irvington Sunday afternoon.

When police arrived to the store on 701 Lyons Ave. around 4 p.m., they found Patel suffering from what appeared to be a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead a short time after.

"Somebody came in, shot him - fell down here," said family friend Rakesh Patel.

According to close family friends, Amit was manning the family's liquor store alone on Sunday afternoon - his father, who owned the store was in the back office.

"He's a nice guy - I don't know what happened. Everybody's nervous," said family friend Bimal Patel.

Even beyond the horror of the savage murder, friends are left puzzled over a motive. It appears nothing was stolen, and there was no sign of a struggle, not even a broken bottle. The Essex County Prosecutor's Office is now examining the surveillance video for a photo of the killer.

"We don't know if it was a robbery, nobody knows. They were alone here," says Bimal.

Friends say the victim got married only a year ago, and worked at his father's store seven days a week. He was described as kind and hard-working, and "everybody's friend". On Sunday, they locked up the family store with broken hearts and no answers.

Anyone with any information is asked to call the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force at 1877-TIPS-4-EC.