3 Men Were 'Hunted' in Store in Rash of Robberies Targeting Latino-Owned Businesses, Ala. Mayor Says

The triple homicide is the latest in a string of violent burglaries targeting Latino-owned businesses in the Montgomery, Ala. community

Police arrived at Tienda Los Hermanos, a Latino grocery store in Montgomery, Ala., just before 9 p.m. Tuesday, June 4.

There, officers found George Elijah, Jr., 50, and Daniel Lopez, 20, fatally shot, Acting Chief of Police John Hall confirmed at a recorded press conference Wednesday. Romero Lopez, 43 was rushed to a local hospital, where he succumbed to gunshot injuries.

At the joint press conference with Mayor Steven Reed, officials confirmed that the shooting at the grocery store was one in a rash of such stick-ups targeting Latino-owned businesses in Montgomery.

Calling the shooting “inexcusable,” Reed said, “People working their jobs in their community, trying to make it day-to-day, week-to-week should not be preyed upon, should not be targeted.”

“We’re not going to stand for people to be hunted because people think they’re an easy target or they’re easy prey,” Reed added. Then, speaking to the perpetrators of the shootings, he continued: “It’s easy being the hunter, it’s different when you’re being hunted and that’s what they are being right now.”

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Police have not yet named any suspects or announced any arrests related to the triple homicide.

Hall said that due to the ongoing investigation, he could not yet confirm if the people involved in the set of earlier unenumerated burglaries of Latino-owned businesses were also responsible for Tuesday’s shooting.

But, he said, “once they're identified we're going to seek the most stringent justice that we can,” and that in that vein, his department is consulting with the FBI, with an aim to file federal charges.

Hall said investigators are reviewing video evidence, interviewing witnesses and utilizing the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, an automated, interstate evaluation tool enabling law enforcement agencies to find patterns and connect crimes.

Montgomery police have also set up a special detail of officers focused on such robberies and violent crimes, Hall said.

The Lopez men were the owner’s brother and nephew, Maribel Lopez, the owner, confirmed to WFSA. (The name of the store – Tienda Los Hermanos – refers to a family-run operation.)

Elijah had been caught in the crossfire, the mayor said, when he had come to the grocery store “just to do a little shopping and talking to those that worked there.”

During Wednesday’s press conference, a man speaking in Spanish asserted that at least two 911 calls had been placed reporting the shooting at Tienda Los Hermanos before police responded, exacerbating fears within the Latino community about deadly delays in response time.

“I don't have an answer for that,” Hall said, after the concern was translated to him. “What I will do is have that researched and find out what happened.”

Major Saba Coleman of the Montgomery Police Department declined to provide follow-up information to that allegation Thursday or to provide additional insight into the string of race-related burglaries in Montgomery, which officials believe may in part be based on the large amounts of cash often passing through the stores.

It is unclear how many Latino-owned businesses have been targeted, or if investigators are searching for one or multiple shooters in connection to Tuesday’s shooting and the earlier burglaries.

If you have information related to this homicide investigation – or other shootings targeting the Latino community in Montgomery, Ala. – you may contact CrimeStoppers at 215-STOP, Secret Witness at 625-4000, or the Montgomery Police Department at 625-2831.

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