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Gas Station Clerk Murdered
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 3:55AM 
Stephen Michael Haines, 18, of Gary, Ind. was charged with murder. He is being held without bond and faces a maximum of 65 years in prison for the murder of 26-year-old Gurjeet Singh. He is scheduled to go before a Lake County Indiana Superior Court Magistrate for an initial hearing.
Haines was one of four men who ran into the Gran Gas Mini Food Mart and Gas Station located at 1500 Grant St., Gary, on June 14th. The men kicked in the door to the cash register area, where Singh was working. Singh pushed back the men after they tried to grab him and was shot in the neck. Singh was taken to Methodist Hospital Northlake, where he later died. Police are still looking for the other three men.
Police said the suspects including Haines tried unsuccessfully to open the cash register. They allegedly took a VCR and a carton of cigarettes.
"It was senseless. And really all homicides are senseless but what we gather from this, there was very little resistance," said Gary Police Department Commander Anthony Titus. "It didn't have to end the way it did."
Police say there were several customers walking around the store after the crime. But only one called 911 for help. They say a woman who was in the store after the crime posted what she knew on Facebook instead of calling 911 and talking with police.
When asked what he finds most disturbing about the surveillance footage, Titus said, "The fact that people went in and out of the store and didn't call police. There is a man laying there. Nobody thinks to dial 911 or check to see if he's OK or anything."
The victim's family is happy one suspect has been arrested, but they know more people have the clues police need. A translator said Sawaran Singh, the victim's father, can't find the words to describe the pain he feels right now. He traveled from Punjab, India to pray at a visitation with family and friends.
Gurjeet Singh's uncle, Randy Singh, said his nephew was liked by regular customers. He said this was the first holdup in the nine years he has owned the store. The uncle said that most days Gurjeet worked nearly 12 hours a day, seven days a week. On his time off, he would shop or rest up for his next work shift. Before working in his uncle's store, Gurjeet studied engineering at a Canadian university for four years.
For now, a grieving father prepares to take his son's remains back to India for a funeral. The future his family planned for him is only a memory. Sawaran Singh had to make the trip here alone, because he says the U.S. embassy in New Delhi wouldn't give his wife a visa. Gurjeet Singh's mother still waits to lay her son to rest.
Police say the robbers left the store in a car registered to Haines' mother; it was later found torched. Detective James Bond credits a tip from the public for leading him to Haines.
Detective Bond released still photos from surveillance footage of the incident to the media, after which the department received various leads on the suspects' identities. Police say they've identified who the other suspects are but they need more members of the public to stand up and tell what they know.
