2 charged in ‘cold-blooded’ killing of 7-Eleven clerk

Police on Tuesday arrested and charged two men with murder in the Dec. 9 killing of a clerk at a 7-Eleven on Westinghouse Boulevard in Steele Creek.

Khaled Mohamad Elmerkabaoui was killed “in cold blood,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police spokesman Robert Tufano said. The 55-year-old clerk was shot at around 3:30 a.m. and was found lying in the store by people who went in to shop. The store is in the 700 block of Westinghouse Boulevard near Interstate 77.

Treyvonte Luwanne Lockhart, 29, was arrested and charged with murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon and possession of stolen property after police spotted him in a silver Hyundai Santa Fe they said was connected to the killing.

Police tried to stop the SUV at 8 a.m. Tuesday in a neighborhood off Park Road and Highway 51, but the driver refused to stop and led police on a pursuit into Concord. The driver abandoned the SUV and initially escaped, but was later arrested near Interstate 85 and Sugar Creek Road in Charlotte.

Lockhart also had outstanding S.C. warrants related to an attempted robbery of a Fort Mill business, police said.

At 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, officers found a second suspect in the killing, 44-year-old Geoffrey Ford, driving in a neighborhood near Carmel Road and Quail Hollow Road in south Charlotte.

Ford ran from the car, but police set up a perimeter around Quail Hollow Road and Quail Forest Drive and soon arrested him. Ford is charged with murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Police said they are looking for no other suspects in the case.

No customers were in the store when Elmerkabaoui was shot, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Lt. Alex Watson said at a news conference last week. Elmerkabaoui, of Charlotte, was pronounced dead at the scene.

“The suspect walked in – from all indications it was a robbery attempt,” CMPD Captain Chris Dozier told Observer news partner WBTV. “The clerk offered no resistance whatsoever to the suspect, and the suspect did shoot and kill the clerk. He then fled the store. We’re extremely upset. … You have a clerk that offers no resistance, offers no resistance whatsoever and is a victim of a homicide.”

Known as “K,” Elmerkabaoui was a native of Lebanon who worked at various Charlotte 7-Elevens for five years and as a store clerk elsewhere for at least 15 more years, according to Tufano. He was married and had no children.

This story was originally published December 19, 2017 at 11:50 PM with the headline "2 charged in ‘cold-blooded’ killing of 7-Eleven clerk."