Church Offers $10,000 Reward For Help Finding Ethiopian Market Owner's Murderer

NASHVILLE, TN — The family of assassinated South Nashville market owner Gitem Demissee, along with members of his church, have raised $10,000 as a reward for information that leads to the arrest of his murderer. Demissee, owner of Ibex Ethiopian Bar & Restaurant, was ambushed by a masked man at closing time early on the morning of March 19. Metro Police detectives have said the killing of the 41-year-old man was "targeted" and an "assassination."

There have been precious few leads in the case, leading to the reward from Demissee's family and parishioners of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Antioch. The church's priest, Mesfin Tesemma, delivered a petition to Mayor Megan Barry Tuesday urging more attention on the murder. Tesemma told NewsChannel 5 that many members of the Ethiopian community are having trouble sleeping in the aftermath of Demissee's assassination.

There is surveillance video of the shooting, but the gunman is difficult to identify as he was wearing a mask. He is described as 5'7" tall with a thin build.

Image via Shutterstock