Killer still free in Lulu Food Mart armed robbery in Warner Robins

WARNER ROBINS -- Harvinder "Pinto" Kaura was supposed to be working the September night his brother was fatally wounded in an armed robbery at the Lulu Food Mart on Elberta Road.

Govinder "Raj" Kaura, 56, died at the scene. He left behind two children, a 16-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son.

The brothers often worked together at the family-owned store near Tanglewood Apartments. Natives of India, the Kaura brothers were known to family, friends and customers by their nicknames.

"We're a neighborhood store," Pinto Kaura said. "We've never had any problems, never had anything happen. Then all of the sudden -- this."

THE CRIME

It was Sept. 10, a Thursday night, and Pinto Kaura was hospitalized with an illness. His brother was minding the store, along with an employee. A few customers were playing the state-sanctioned gambling machines that are lined up along the front of the store.

Shortly after 10 p.m., a masked, armed man dressed in dark clothing walked quickly into the store and pointed a handgun.

In a portion of a surveillance video released by the Warner Robins Police Department, the suspect first pointed the gun toward the gambling machines and then turned and headed directly for the store counter.

Keeping the gun raised, he first peered over the counter toward a small store office. He jumped onto and over the counter and walked, gun raised, toward the office.

Witnesses inside the store described him as a light-skinned black man, standing about 5 feet 11 inches tall with a slender build, police said.

Two months after the shooting, the case remains unsolved.

Pinto Kaura still does not know what happened in the final moments of his brother's life. Police have not told him much, and witnesses in the store are "too scared" to talk with him.

Those who were in the store that night either declined to comment or could not be reached by The Telegraph.

Michael Tunstall, a 34-year-old restaurant cook who lives nearby, had pulled into the parking lot to grab a beer just after the incident.

As he opened his car door, he overheard a visibly distraught man outside the store on a cellphone with 911.

"Hurry up! Hurry up!," Tunstall recalled the man speaking excitedly into the cellphone. "He's been shot! He's been shot!"

Tunstall said his first instinct was to leave. But as he pulled his car door shut, arriving police officers pulled up behind him and blocked him in.

Tunstall was saddened to learn what happened. He said he knew Raj Kaura as a gentle man who often gave Tunstall's 4-year-old daughter free candy when they went into the store. Raj Kaura also had covered him once when he was short 55 cents for a purchase.

"His regular customers, he treated like family," Tunstall said.

He also expected his customers to be courteous and respectful, including asking customers who wore their pants low to pull them up, Tunstall said.

A sign on the front door of the store requested that customers pull up their pants in order to be served.

Because he'd driven up on a crime scene, Tunstall said, police had him remain outside the store for several hours as officers searched the area, took witness statements and investigated.

Family and friends of Raj Kaura arrived at the store looking for answers.

Tunstall recalled an emotional moment when a family member took him by both hands and pleaded with him to share what had happened. But Tunstall hadn't seen anything.

When Tunstall finally was able to return home about 4 a.m. the next morning, he saw police officers armed with M16 rifles searching backyards.

"It was scary to me," Tunstall said.

A COMPASSIONATE MAN

Dolly Harpreet, an ex-wife of Raj Kaura, described him as a "nice person" who "wouldn't bother anybody."

A memorial gathering for him was held Sept. 13 among family and friends at the Burpee-Scott Memorial Chapel Funeral Home on U.S. 41.

He was described as "quiet, soft-spoken and compassionate to the concerns of others" in a program created by a family friend for the gathering.

He had worked at Express Stop convenience stores since 2011, according to the memorial program. In addition to his brother and children, he is survived by four sisters and a host of relatives and friends, the program said.

"So very sorry for your devastating loss," Shelley Doolittle wrote on a memorial page on the Burpee-Scott website. "Prayers to all of you ... May your memories make you smile."

His body was cremated and his ashes released over a river, his brother said.

"He was a good fellow, a good worker," Pinto Kaura said. "He was a cool guy."

To contact writer Becky Purser, call 256-9559, or find her on Twitter @becpurser.

To view the surveillance video, go to http://bit.ly/1RcbJVB. Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to call Warner Robins police detective Brett Rozier at 478-302-5380, or leave anonymous tips for Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 877-68-CRIME.

This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 8:40 PM with the headline "Killer still free in Lulu Food Mart armed robbery in Warner Robins ."