Man slain by police in killing of clerk IDd
An armed-robbery suspect killed by a police officer after he pistolwhipped and gunned down a gas station clerk in an Antioch holdup was identified by authorities as a 42-year-old El Cerrito resident.
Zepp Crouchet was shot dead by an Antioch police officer on Monday about 8:30 p.m. after robbing and shooting a 57-year-old father of three working at the Valero gas station at 1801 Hillcrest Ave., police said.
A patrol officer saw the robbery taking place and tried to intervene, but the victim, Mohammad Jawad Ataie, had already been fatally shot, police said. The officer, whose name was not released, confronted Crouchet inside the gas station’s mini market and discharged his firearm once, striking the suspect in the torso, police said.
Crouchet fled the scene on foot and was not initially found. He was found dead on Tuesday morning near his car on the 100 block of West 20th Street, nearly a mile and a half away from the gas station, police said.
Crouchet pistolwhipped and shot Ataie twice prior to the officer intervening, police said.
Ataie had been working at the gas station for the past five years, said Asad Noori, who owns the business.
“He always had a smile,” Noori said of Ataie.
Sahib Singh, 30, was working behind the counter at a 7-Eleven across the street from the Valero when Ataie was killed. From a window of the convenience store, Singh said he saw Crouchet running away slowly from the gas station as a police officer chased after him.
Singh said he then saw Crouchet climb a whitepicket fence and fall into the yard of a house. He said the officer returned to the gas station to check on Ataie a short time later.
A GoFundMe account was set up Monday to help Ataie’s family with funeral costs. As of Thursday morning, 544 people had donated more than $36,500.
“He was a hard worker,” a relative said of Ataie, who asked that his name not be used. “He was a loving, great husband.”
The Contra Costa County district attorney’s office is investigating the officer-involved shooting in keeping with protocol for such incidents.