Joliet Police Continue to Search for Suspect in Food Mart Shootout

A memorial outside Gardner Food Mart Tuesday (credit: Joseph Hosey) for 24-year-old Mohammad Eid (Facebook); also killed in the Jan. 19 shooting was 24-year-old Troy Norris (Credit: Illinois Department of Corrections).

Flowers and stuffed animals were left outside Gardner Food Mart Tuesday, a day after 24-year-old clerk Mohammad Eid died in a shootout with an armed robbery suspect.

• Store Owner’s Son, Suspect Killed in Joliet Food Mart Shootout

One suspect, reportedly identified as 24-year-old Troy Norris of Joliet, was also killed, and a second alleged robber remained at large.

Joliet Police Chief Brian Benton said police interviewed two people who brought Norris to the Presence St. Joseph emergency room, where he was pronounced dead Monday night.

Benton said neither of the two were arrested, and police continued to search for the second suspect, described as a black male standing about 5’9” with a slim build, wearing a light-colored hoodie.

Police said the two suspects entered the food mart, 1000 Gardner St. near Nowell Park, at around 3:15 p.m. Monday. After one suspect brandished a handgun, Eid, whose family owns the store, drew a weapon from behind the counter before the pair exchanged fire. Both men were fatally wounded in the shooting.

Customers paid their respects outside the shuttered store on Tuesday, remembering Eid, known as “Mo,” as happy, always with a smile on his face, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“He was one of a kind,” one customer told the Tribune. “He would give you the shirt off his back.”

Click for the full article and video.

Norris served time for 2012 convictions on aggravated battery and drug charges, and was due to complete parole on Wednesday. He was released from prison on Jan. 21, 2014, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

While serving time at the Illinois River Correctional Center, Norris was also charged with 16 counts of money laundering and fraud as part of an alleged bank fraud scheme.

Norris was one of 15 people accused in 2013 of being part of a complicated computer scheme to defraud banks. Charges against him included financial crimes enterprise, burglary, wire fraud, money laundering and financial institution fraud. He was due to appear in court next month.

• Read: 15 People Charged in $100K Bank Fraud Scheme: Joliet Police

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Joliet police at 815-724-3020 or Crime Stoppers at 800-323-6734.

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