Left: Alex Lopez (Lake County Jail). Right: Lopez during the armed robbery and murder of a store clerk in Leesburg, Florida (Leesburg police).
A jury in Florida on Wednesday convicted a 26-year-old man for the murder and robbery of a store clerk who was on the phone with his horrified wife when he was shot to death.
Alex Lopez was found guilty of first-degree murder, armed robbery and other charges in the slaying of 51-year-old Raied "Ray" Shihadeh in Leesburg, which is some 40 miles northwest of Orlando. Judge Brian Welke sentenced Lopez to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The trial included emotional testimony from Shihadeh's wife, who was on a FaceTime call with her husband at the time of his murder on May 30, 2024, at the M & M Food Mart. According to a courtroom report from local Fox affiliate WOFL, Monique Shihadeh heard her husband say "no, no" followed by a gunshot.
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"I kept asking him, 'What is happening? What's going on?' He never responded. He never said anything," she reportedly testified. "All of a sudden, I saw a blur pass across the screen and I screamed."
That blur was apparently Lopez stepping over her husband to shoot him again as he lay on the floor. Lopez grabbed less than $100 from the cash register and a vape before fleeing.
A customer came in later and heard Monique Shihadeh screaming on the phone and saw the victim on the ground. The customer called 911.
Cops rushed to the scene where they found Raied Shihadeh suffering from gunshot wounds to his abdomen and head. He was airlifted to a hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.
Detectives released photos to the media of the suspect and they received several tips, including from his cousin, that identified Lopez as the suspect. He spent several weeks on the run but was arrested at a hotel in Kissimmee.
Shihadeh was a father of five.
"Less than a hundred dollars is what this ruthless, wanna be thug valued over the victim's life," State Attorney Bill Gladson said in a statement. "While this verdict, nor any amount of money, can't bring the victim back, we hope his family finds comfort in knowing this killer won't walk free again."