Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.
Taher "T.J." Jakani came to the United States from Afghanistan to find a better life, friends said Monday, and by all accounts he had succeeded.
In late June, the 31-year-old opened Smokes and Jewelry, a small shop selling cigarettes, snacks and trinkets, in a new, tidy shopping center on Craig Road near Simmons Street in North Las Vegas.
He had a 4-year-old daughter, a toddler son and another baby on the way, and he and his wife were looking for a house to buy in Summerlin.
Jakani was a hard worker, a fellow business owner said, and she could understand why he confronted the person who robbed his store Sunday morning.
But the confrontation on the side of the shopping center turned violent, and the robber shot and killed him.
"When people work really hard, it's difficult to just let someone take things, and you're not thinking they are going to do you that kind of harm," said Willia Chaney, owner of the Jewelry Flower Box flower shop next to Jakani's store.
"He must not have been thinking clearly and his first instinct was to get back whatever was taken," she said. "When you own a business you're struggling to make the rent -- it's hard, and he had a family to support."
As of this morning police had not made an arrest and Officer Sean Walker, North Las Vegas Police spokesman, said evidence is scarce.
It does look like Jakani's shop was robbed but it's not clear what else was taken. Jakani was working alone, as he usually did. He had no employees, Chaney said.
Jakani's shop is situated in the middle of the shopping center. Walker said he apparently followed the robber outside about 50 yards, past four or five other businesses, and around the corner on the west side of the shopping center.
His body was found there about 10:30 a.m. Sunday with some change scattered around his body.
The shooting occurred out of view of shoppers at the Food 4 Less and a Super Cuts hair salon, the only other businesses that were open at the time.
Police don't have a description of the person who shot Jakani, Walker said. Detectives had hoped a surveillance camera inside the store would yielded some clues, but the camera was not recording at the time. They are hoping to find fingerprints that may help them identify a suspect.
Detectives talked to a few people who were in the shopping plaza when the shooting happened, but the information was so scant that it wasn't much help.
"This may be something that will be very difficult for us to solve," Walker said.
Jakani immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan as a child, lived in Los Angeles and moved to Las Vegas earlier this year and got a license to run his business June 26, a spokesman with the North Las Vegas business licensing office said.
He was friendly and made himself known in the shopping center.
"When he first moved in, he came over and introduced himself," Chaney said. "He said, 'I'm going to be your neighbor.' "
He stopped by the flower shop every day, she said, sometimes two or three times a day, and they would chat about business. They got to be friends, she said, but she didn't know his full name until after he died. He went by the nickname "T.J."
"He told us he was from Afghanistan. He did mention he came here for a better life," Chaney said. "It's so hard to believe he's gone."
Jakani helped Chaney move furniture and other heavy items in her store, she said, and other times Chaney's employees would man Jakani's store if he had to step out.
Alexis Sullivan, who works at Great Clips, said, "It's really emotional right now. He was so hardworking and very friendly and was willing to please anybody."
Monday afternoon a basket of flowers, a single rose and a few candles were laid in front of Jakani's store, which was closed, creating a small shrine for him.
The surrounding business owners and workers are in shock, Chaney said, especially since police said this shopping center isn't known as a high crime area.
"I think things are going to change now," Chaney said. She plans to upgrade her security system, and she has instructed her employees to let robbers take what they want because their lives aren't worth it.
Chaney wonders if Jakani knew the man who shot him, since he would "talk to any and everybody."
"From what we knew of him, he was really upfront and really wanted to make it in business," she said. "It's very sad."
Anyone with information about the homicide can call police at 633-9111.
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