HENDERSON — The owner of a gas station and convenience store in Henderson was opening up his shop Thursday morning when police say he was robbed and shot to death

The victim, Abdo Moharam, 44, was gunned down about 5:40 a.m., shortly after opening the Vanco Mill Mini Mart.

"He called me at ten minutes [before] five this morning," says employee Sadie Terry. " He talked to my husband."

Investigators say two shots were fired; at least one of them hit Moharam.

"When I turned around I [saw] a guy standing there with a black hood over his face and a gun," says employee Tefanie Harris.

Harris and a customer were not injured.

The gunman escaped with an unknown amount of money.

Vance County deputies and theState Bureau of Investigationhave few leads in the case.

"We're gathering what evidence we can from the store and we're going from there. We got a basic description, but it's not a lot to go on," says Capt. J.D. Shockley of theVance County Sheriff's Office.

Store customers like Lisa Mansour are stunned.

"He was a very nice, very respectful person," says Mansour. "His job in life was to work, make money and take care of his children."

Moharam was from Yemen. Friends say he had owned the for store five years and moved his family to the United States just two months ago.

Abdo Alashmay, a fellow Yemeni store owner, is having second thoughts about the store he owns. He says there is too much violence in the area.

"Last week, someone got shot. The last two weeks someone got killed. Today this guy gets killed. What for?" he asks.

Anyone who happened to be on Vanco Mill Road near U.S. 1 Thursday morning between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. and saw anything or anyone suspicious should call the sheriff's office at 252-738-2200.