Gas station closed today in respect for murdered employee

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Police are still searching for a suspect in the shooting death of a gas station employee.

Hussein Alghooran, 40, was gunned down at the Marathon Gas Station at 509 Highland Ave. at 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

Alghooran lived in the city, but New Castle Police would not release his address.

The shooting appears to have happened during a robbery attempt, police said.

No one was at the gas station this afternoon. A sign on the door said it was closed out of respect for the deceased employee.

Police Chief Tom Sansone said he believes Alghooran lived alone.

He said he believes the owners of the gas station are Alghooran’s relatives.

Sansone said police are still reviewing video surveillance from the gas station and have interviewed witnesses.

He said Alghooran and a customer were in the store when the shooter came in, and that customer and another person outside the store saw the shooter running away afterward.

Alghooran was shot with a semiautomatic handgun. Police are still trying to determine what caliber, Sansone said.

He said the shooter, a man in his teens or twenties, came into the store and demanded money. Alghooran refused to give it to him, and he was shot in the head.