Megan Sheets, Daily Mail, November 19, 2018

A suspected illegal immigrant has been charged in the murder of a convenience store clerk during an armed robbery in Houston, authorities say.

Jose Bonilla-Ortiz, 18, was arrested on Saturday morning at an apartment about two miles north of the Metro Food Mart where he is accused of gunning down Bangladeshi immigrant Faruk Bhuiya, 48.

Surveillance footage shows two armed robbers wearing hoodies waking into the store in northwest Houston around 9pm on November 10.

They briefly look around the shop before passing out of the frame, at which point they allegedly shot and killed Bhuiya.

Houston police Detective Jason Fay said tipsters helped identify Bonilla-Ortiz in the video, while the other man has not been identified or arrested.

Bonilla-Ortiz’s bond is set at $250,000 and he is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

The 18-year-old has no prior criminal history in Harris County, but jail records show Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a detainer on Bonilla-Ortiz because he is not believed to be a US citizen.

He was deported from the country in 2016, prosecutors say. It was not immediately clear where he is originally from.

On the phone with the Houston Chronicle on Sunday evening, Bhuiya’s grieving widow gasped when she learned that a teenager was arrested in her husband’s death.

She also expressed sympathy for the mother her sympathy to the mother of the teen being held on the murder charge.

‘I feel bad for this boy’s mother. His life is ruined. Ruined for nothing, absolutely nothing,’ Phyllis Bhuiya told the Chronicle.

‘I wish I could hug that boy’s mother.’

The widow said she believes her husband would have wanted her to forgive his killer, and she does.

However, she wants justice to be served should Bonilla-Ortiz be convicted of murder in court.

‘I want him punished for what he did. He didn’t just take my husband. He took someone’s son, someone’s stepfather,’ she said.

‘He wasn’t just my husband. He was a lot of things to a lot of people.’

Bhuiya and his wife lived in a home directly behind the convenience store and had been married for less than two years, according to ABC13.

The community held a vigil for the slain shopkeeper on Sunday night.