Paul Bass Photo
Rogan Gopi (at right) with Sonny Patel back behind counter Tuesday.
Rogan Gopi didn’t want to hand over the Backwoods cigars.
The customer asking for them didn’t look old enough to buy them. He looked like a teenager.
Gupi, in his second week on the job at Westville Quality Market, knew the law prohibits selling tobacco products to people under 21.
It was around 1:50 p.m. Tuesday. A second young man accompanied the teen asking for the cigars. He looked like a teenager too.
Backwoods cigars for sale at the market.
“I just need to verify an ID,” Gupi said.
“Just give them to me, bro,” the customer insisted.
Gupi said he couldn’t. The customer seemed agitated.
The two young men left the store. They returned two minutes later.
The teen who’d asked for the cigars came to the counter. His companion stood back, watching the entrance. No one else was inside.
The teen customer pointed a gun at Gopi’s chest. Gopi didn’t turn over the cigars. He said he didn’t feel scared.
Then the teen began kicking a waist-high wooden door blocking the counter area from the rest of the store.
Gopi decided to open it.
“OK, give me the money,” the teen demanded, still pointing the gun.
Gopi opened the cash register.
“I didn’t want to lose my life for $200,” he decided.
“I gave the twenties first,” he said. The teen still looked angry. “Then the fives. Then the ones.”
The teen took the money, $216.11, then left the store along with his companion. Gopi followed them outside. He saw them hop into a black hatchback parked on West Elm Street, then turn around and drive away down Marvel Road.
Gopi called the cops, who showed up and took a report.
Shilpan “Sonny” Patel, a 34-year-old who came to the U.S. from Gujarat, India, in 2007, bought Westville Quality Market a little over two years ago, in 2018. Someone robbed it in March 2019. He said this was the second time the store has been hit under his ownership.
Police said they are investigating the incident.
Patel and Gopi outside Westville Quality Market.
Sonny is an asset to the community. His staff treats everyone with respect. It's sad that the crime and violence has spread throughout the city.