Neighbors: YaYa Food Mart owner was a friend

When a gunman took the life of the owner of the YaYa Food Mart on Murchison Road on Saturday, the community lost a friend, several regular customers said Monday.

Police have released little information about the shooting death of 30-year-old Waheed Abdo Abdulla, or of 20-year-old Demetrius Deshawn Johnson, the second man shot to death that night at the store. The store is at 3122 Murchison Road, on the corner where Murchison crosses the U.S. 401 Bypass.

Officers received a report of a shooting at 1:07 a.m. Saturday. They found Abdulla dead on the floor of his store, and Johnson, of 545 Hilliard Drive, dying in a car in the parking lot.

The convenience store and gas station remained dark Monday, as did its companion store at Graham and Strickland Bridge roads in west Fayetteville. Sympathy flowers adorned the front doors of both stores near hand-lettered signs that read, "We are closed."

Abdulla provided great service to his customers, said Anthony Harris, a longtime patron of the Murchison Road store. Harris works across the street at Rent-n-Roll automobile rims store and lives nearby.

"He was a great guy. He was the guy I saw all the time, day or night," Harris said.

The YaYa store is a family business which improved the neighborhood, Harris said. "There was like three or four different gas stations that just kept failing and shutting down," on the site. "And then they opened it and made it successful, and they're doing good over here.

"They pretty much cater to this part of town," a poor neighborhood, Harris said. "They sell stuff like single cigarettes, single matches to people who can't afford a whole pack of cigarettes. Stuff like that. Just stuff that you can't buy if you go into a more high-dollar gas station."

Abdulla's store carries more things than most convenience stores, and for better prices, Harris, said. "Toboggans, T-shirts, shoes, belts ... underalls, hats, everything."

"Nice hats," said Carl Benekin, another Rent-n-Roll worker.

"They are pretty much a flea mall-slash-convenience store all at the same time."

They are "down to earth people," said Ryan Levock, also of Rent-n-Roll. "They sent us customers over here," and sometimes gave free sodas to regular customers.

Abdulla and the others in the store had no tolerance for trouble, Harris said.

"The reason that they can cater to this part of town, is because they will set you straight and get you straight," he said. "In other words, like if you get out of line, they set you straight. But they're not disrespectful about it. And everyone respects them. And they get you straight. You need something? They'll help you out."

The case remains under investigation, the Police Department said in a news release. As of Monday evening, the department had not reported any arrests in the case.

Security cameras may help solve the crime. The store has them monitoring the parking lot and inside. In September, prosecutors used tapes from the store's security cameras to help convict a man for a murder in Massey Hill.

"I just hope they catch them," Benekin said.