CINCINNATI – A convenience store owner says the armed man robbing him Sunday night id the same thing two weeks ago, but he wasn't going to let him get away with it this time.
"I didn’t want it to happen this way. I mean, bro, you did it once, that was my bad. [You] do it twice, that’s your bad,” Mohammad Abdelwahed, owner of G&J Market in East Price Hill, told WCPO Monday.
Ronald Collins
Abdelwahed, 55, said he shot 30-year-old Ronald Collins when Collins let his guard down.
"You never turn your back on someone when you're robbing them," said Abdelwahed.
Abdelwahed was angry, sad and still in a little shock Monday, but sure he made the right decision to defend himself.
“I have a family. I have a wife that cares about me and wants me to live and go back home to her,” he said.
Abdelwahed – known in the neighborhood as Mo – said he was working in the store at McPherson Avenue and West 8th Street just before 8 p.m. Sunday when Collins came in, pointed a gun and demanded money from the register. Abdelwahed immediately recognized Collins, he said.
"He's big. Huge. 6'5", 350 lbs. Could be mistaken for one of those NFL players," Abdelwahed said.
He said he let Collins get away with $600 the last time, but not this time.
“He turned around and he was about to leave. This time I took the opportunity because he was running away with my money. I aimed at him and I shot him in the back," Abdelwahed said. "He ran out of the store and dropped the money bag in the parking lot.”
Abdelwahed said he has dealt with a lot of crime in the five years he has operated G&J Market, but he reopened his store Monday afternoon even though the incident left him "pretty shook up."
"I was crying like a baby last night," he told one of his regular customers.
He even said he felt bad for Collins.
"I’m sorry I had to shoot him. Please forgive me. I know he might have kids. He might have a family. I know his kids and family care about him. I pray to God that he lives and learns from this experience because this is wrong," Abdelwahed said.
Cincinnati police said Collins had life-threatening injuries but was expected to survive.
Collins went to prison for robbery in 2006 and was wanted for a parole violation, according to police. He was charged with aggravated robbery in Sunday's incident.
Adrian Edmerson
Police said they also arrested Collins' getaway driver. They said Adrian Edmerson, 35, took Collins' gun from the scene and tried to hide it from police.
When police went to Edmerson's home, they said they found 200 marijuana plants growing in lighted tents in his garage on on Orland Avenue in North Fairmount.
Edmerson was charged with tampering with evidence, cultivating marijuana and unspecified meth offenses.
