The 7-Eleven convenience store clerk shot in the head Sunday on the 16th Street Mall is expected to live, according to police.
Ali Bashir Abu Zama, 37, is listed in critical condition at Denver Health Medical Center but is showing signs of improvement, according to police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
The manager of the 7-Eleven declined to comment other than to say that the employee was a native of Sudan.
Zama was shot Sunday after a customer whom he had asked to leave the store returned roughly 15 minutes later and pulled out a gun. Zama was shot in the head and lost a large amount of blood, according to witnesses.
Police arrested Brodrick Roddy a few minutes later after witnesses directed police to 19th and Arapahoe streets, where they found him.
Roddy, 22, is in custody and is expected to be charged by the district attorney with attempted first-degree murder, Jackson said.
Roddy has two convictions for shoplifting in the metro area, one in January in Denver, which carried a one-day jail sentence, and the other in April in Littleton, which carried a three-day jail sentence. He also was convicted in Fort Worth, Texas, for the unlawful carrying of a weapon on June 10, 2006. He was sentenced to 20 days in jail.
Pedestrians on the mall today were surprised by the shooting, saying such violence on the mall is rare.
Papa Diop, an employee at Keys Deluxe, near the 7-Eleven, has been working at that location for three years. He said he has had some minor problems with shoplifting and the like, but nothing major.
With the diverse people he comes in contact with, he has a plan to stay out of trouble: keeping to himself. He said he is friendly to everyone, but when he’s not helping customers, he buries his head in a crossword puzzle or reads a book.
“The job is being done by the police,” said the native of Senegal, Africa.
He knew the victim of the shooting in passing, not by name, and described him as a “cool,” laid-back guy.
Karla Carillo has been working at the McDonald’s across the street from the 7-Eleven for two years. In her time there, she said she hasn’t witnessed any major violence.
“We have a lot of drunk people doing a lot of stupid things,” she said. But the situation is usually deflated by calling the police, she said. Many times, employees don’t even have to make the call — the area is so saturated with police that all she has to do is walk outside to flag down an officer, she said.
And when there is violence, it is usually not random, which this shooting appeared to be.
In 1994, the owner of the Chinja Chinese lunch counter in the Republic Plaza food court was shot dead by a man who had been trying to extort money from him. Wen-Cheng “Roc” Hsieh, 43, was serving customers when the suspect, Yi Ching Chou, fired two bullets and fled. Quick-acting bystanders grabbed Chou and pinned him down until police arrived.
And in 2000, security guard Corina Martinez, 59, was stabbed to death by Subway sandwich-shop employee Michael Nunez at the 16th Street Mall food court. Martinez was investigating the report of a leak and discovered Nunez wearing women’s lingerie. He had secretly dressed in lingerie for 15 years and didn’t want his family to know.
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at mmcphee@denverpost.com or 303-954-1409.
