Thursday, June 18, 2009

The Murder of Mr. Roland

Candy store owner, "Mr. Roland," was killed Wednesday evening. His murderer is not in police custody. At the moment, he's a free man; but hopefully not for much longer.

How can the killer live with himself? Has he no conscience, no sense of right and wrong, no soul?

From TMJ4:

The 77-year-old operator of The Silver Spring Variety Store on Silver Spring Road and Fond du Lac is dead following a robbery and shooting late Wednesday.

“I think it’s the saddest thing in the world,” said Marcia Goins as she watched Milwaukee Police stretching yellow tape around the crime scene.

Goins mother, Anna Hamiel, sells Avon products in the same building and was on the scene when the murder happened.

“She heard him say, ‘Get out of here’ and the next thing she knows she heard shots and she called me and she said she thought he was hurt or dead,” Goins said.

After the murder, a lone gunman was seen running from the shop southbound. Late Wednesday Milwaukee Police were checking to see if any outdoor surveillance cameras captured useful images of that man.

...Meantime, those who loved the popular store owner known in the neighborhood as “Mr. Roland” were beginning to confront their own grief.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A 77-year-old shopkeeper who sold candy and other snacks at a store on Milwaukee's northwest side and was known to neighborhood children as "Grandpa" was shot to death during a robbery attempt Wednesday evening.

..."It's a sad day for the city of Milwaukee for something like this to happen to one of the kindest old men you could know," [Marcia] Goins said.

Farrah Walker, 32, found the store blocked off with yellow police tape when she arrived to buy candy with her two young children less than an hour after the shooting.

"I thought, 'I hope it's not him,' " Walker said.

She said the store was a popular spot for neighborhood children, who often dumped change on the counter before pointing out the items they wanted, and receiving free popcorn, too.

"If you didn't have enough money for what you needed, he'd tell you to catch him the next time," Walker said.

He was patient with young children and respectful toward neighborhood teenagers, who got along with him, Walker said.

"He was, like, the nicest person you could ever know," Walker said. "For him to stay here as long as he did, he was really dedicated to the neighborhood."

It takes a real tough guy to gun down a 77-year-old man, doesn't it?

I hope the police get the thug who did this.

I hope he spends the rest of his life in prison. He's not fit to live in the community with law-abiding, decent people.

He didn't rob a store. He stole a life.

I hope Mayor Tom Barrett realizes that the gun didn't kill "Grandpa." The thug did.

What a senseless act!

It's heartbreaking.


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