Remember the Murdered Wal-Mart Greeter Who Was Being Stalked?
Maggie
I couldn't find any information about how many stab wounds he had or how the ME
determined it was suicide. From the AP:
Wal-Mart Greeter Who Complained of Stalker Killed Self, Officials Say
Published: Feb 19, 2004
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A Wal-Mart greeter who died of stab wounds and had
complained that a shoplifter was stalking him committed suicide, officials said
Thursday.
Liaquat Habib, 51, died Feb. 12 from abdominal wounds. He had told his
apartment manager and a neighbor that a person he had caught shoplifting at
Wal-Mart had followed him home and threatened him.
Habib's stab wounds were self-inflicted, Lehigh County Coroner Scott M. Grim
said Thursday.
Police officials said Habib had been charged with shoplifting $140 worth of
baby formula from a Kmart store on Feb. 2. Grim said officials believe that
arrest may have led Habib to take his own life.
Investigators found no evidence that Habib was being stalked or harassed,
police said.
AP-ES-02-19-04 2254EST
Previous article from the Morning Call (Allantown, PA):
February 14, 2004
Family sure Wal-Mart greeter killed by stalker; officials mum
Records show Whitehall man complained to police.
By Dan Sheehan
and Joe McDonald Of the Morning Call
Police remained tight-lipped Friday about the circumstances of a Whitehall
Township man's death, but the victim's family is certain he was stalked and
stabbed to death by a stranger he had encountered at work.
Liaquat Habib's family wondered why he was killed despite what they said were
his repeated warnings to his employer and police that someone was threatening
him at the Wal-Mart where he worked as a greeter and outside Independence
Square Apartments where he lived.
Habib, a Tanzanian immigrant, died Thursday afternoon at Lehigh Valley
Hospital, Salisbury Township, after being stabbed multiple times in his
apartment.
According to relatives and a neighbor at his apartment complex, Habib had
recently complained of being
threatened by a man he had repeatedly stopped for shoplifting at the MacArthur
Road store.
On Feb. 4, nine days before he was fatally stabbed, Habib told Whitehall
police that he had been threatened at work and at home, according to the police
log. Police withheld the official report detailing Habib's complaint.
''At this point we have to say no, in as much as details of that may play an
integral role in this investigation,'' Police Chief Theodore D. Kohuth said.
''We want to consult with James Martin before I do that,'' Kohuth said. ''I
don't want to discuss any information that may compromise an ongoing
investigation.''
Kohuth said the death hasn't yet been classified a homicide. An autopsy is
scheduled for today.
Police returned to the apartment Friday morning to continue their
investigation.
''We're doing all the things a good police department does, processing the
house, the scene,'' Kohuth said. ''We need to continue to interview everyone
involved, verify everything that is said.
''Everyone needs to take a deep breath and let us do our job.''
Habib arrived in this country more than a decade ago from Tanzania, where he
had owned a clothing boutique in the capital city of Dar es Salaam.
He was part of a long, slow wave of immigration from East African nations that
began in the early 1970s when a local church sponsored refugees fleeing the
regime of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.
Today, ''we are a community of close to 300 people, almost 98 percent from
East Africa — Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya,'' said Hasnain Jaffer, a leader at the
Al-Ahad Mosque in South Whitehall Township that is the center of the Valley's
Shia Muslim community.
Friends said most of Habib's immediate family remains in Africa, though a
sister and brother-in-law live outside Allentown.
Seven years ago, Habib went to work at Wal-Mart in Whitehall, where colleagues
spoke of him Friday as a pleasant and quiet man.
That assessment contrasted with the impressions of friends from the mosque. He
was a well-known figure there and his four daughters attended its madressa, or
Sunday school.
''He was a person who liked to talk a lot,'' said Yusuf Mohamedali, an
acquaintance.
Co-workers at Wal-Mart began collecting money for Habib's family and set up a
wreath and a sign saying ''In Tribute to Lee'' above a vase of flowers, near
the front door where he greeted customers.
''He was very easy to get along with,'' said Jamie Brelsford, the store
manager. A counselor from Texas was scheduled to arrive at the store today, he
said.
Habib is the second Wal-Mart employee at that store to die this week. A clerk,
Mary Zis, died Monday after an illness.
Habib's supervisor, Sherry Woolever of Coplay, said Habib's death was hard to
comprehend.
''It's just a crazy world,'' she said.
Colleen Webster of Whitehall, another Wal-Mart employee, agreed.
''We just can't believe it,'' she said. Habib called everyone ''my friend. …
It just doesn't make sense. Nobody would ever have a bone to pick with him.''
The Wal-Mart workers declined to talk about what they thought may have
motivated someone to kill Habib.
According to Muslim tradition, the dead are to be ceremonially cleansed and
buried within 24 hours. However, authorities will not release Habib's body
until after an autopsy today.
If possible, his funeral will be held this afternoon.
''He was a nice guy, a simple guy, and we will miss him,'' Jaffer said.
Maggie
"Objects in your mirror may be closer than they appear." --John Edwards after
the WI primary
Bo Raxo
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
news:20040219233047...@mb-m22.aol.com...
> Turns out he committed suicide by stabbing himself to death (shades of
Luna?).
> I couldn't find any information about how many stab wounds he had or how
the ME
> determined it was suicide. From the AP:
>
> Wal-Mart Greeter Who Complained of Stalker Killed Self, Officials Say
> Published: Feb 19, 2004
>
> ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A Wal-Mart greeter who died of stab wounds and had
> complained that a shoplifter was stalking him committed suicide, officials
said
> Thursday.
>
> Liaquat Habib, 51, died Feb. 12 from abdominal wounds. He had told his
> apartment manager and a neighbor that a person he had caught shoplifting
at
> Wal-Mart had followed him home and threatened him.
>
But like most self-inflicted stab wounds, his were abdominal. Luna's were
higher up, chest area.
Think about how hard it is to stab yourself in the chest - awkward angle and
all those ribs in the way.
Cliff and Linda Griffith
news:20040219233047...@mb-m22.aol.com...
Grim
> said Thursday.
Good name for a coroner. It reminds me of the coroner who testified in the
OJ Trial. OT, but at the time, my aunt said, "That man enjoys his work just
*too* much."
Linda
Threnody
> There was a guy here that slit his own throat some 10 to 15 years ago.
> I could never figure out how 1) he had the guts to do it 2) how he
> actually pulled it off. He must have been looking in a mirror. The
> poor man was an estate planner catering to gay and lesbian clients.
> His cocaine habit was rather expensive and he began to embezzle. He
> was called on his misdeeds by a bunch of pissed off, screaming queens
> and did himself in the next day.
Oh my gosh, I would too. I lived with a cross-dressing gay roommate and
used to marvel at his incredible displays of temper. Never, and I mean
NEVER, have I seen a woman lose her cool the way D. did. We had a good
friend named Joe (Aunty Joe) who was "merely" gay; he also would snit, and
sometimes they'd snit at one another. Good Lord. Two of them were bad
enough; a herd would have been simply impossible. I was, luckily, never
the target of their ire but if I had been slitting my throat would probably
become a quite attractive option. As it was, I hid behind my computer with
a bottle of Jose Cuervo.
Ahh. College. Such fun times and interesting people.
--Threnody
Cricket
"Cliff and Linda Griffith" <grif...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:103bhhb...@corp.supernews.com...
We've got a local doctor named Bert Carrion. My doctor's name is Savage...
(Doc Savage he ain't however...;>)
>
>
Cliff and Linda Griffith
news:19218$4036ba5b$4196f911$13...@msgid.meganewsservers.com...
> We've got a local doctor named Bert Carrion. My doctor's name is
Savage...
>
> (Doc Savage he ain't however...;>)
>
medicine. He's rougher'n a cob, though. Complain about a pain somewhere,
and he'll press on it so hard that you think surely he has broken a bone.
That happened last week when my wrist and thumb were hurting. (Tendonitis)
Linda
Jeff
wrote:
Here in the town I live there is veterinarian who's name is get
this.... "Doc Slaughter"
Cricket
"Jeff" <J...@jft.com> wrote in message
news:40380749...@news.chartertn.net...
Okay, that my beat "Carrion". We do have a funeral home owned by the
Posthumous family...
IBegg2Differ
>We do have a funeral home owned by the
>Posthumous family...
Nuh uh. For real?
Cliff and Linda Griffith
news:20040221235737...@mb-m18.aol.com...
If so, I think she wins the prize.
(Check in at the a.t-c desk to collect your winnings.)
Linda
Cricket
And I think they're related to Dick Posthumus, who's some sort of state
legislator or judge or some such...
Just Googled - sweet Louise, I'm hopeless - he's lieutenant governor!
http://www.michigan.gov/minewswire/0,1607,7-136-3452_3482-54107--,00.html
And here's a lady buried by the Posthumus mortuary folks, just to prove I
wasn't make that one up...
TIMMERMAN -- Mrs. Stella Timmerman, aged 87, of 4894 Bauer Rd., passed away
Thursday evening, July 13, 1972. She is survived by two sisters-in-law, Mrs.
John (May) Engel of Wayland and Mrs. Ernest (Ella) Hazen of Hopkins, and
several nieces and nephews. Mrs. Timmerman reposes at the *Posthumus*
Funeral Home, Chapel of the Fountain, where funeral services will be held
Monday at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Marvin J. Hiddema officiating. Interment in
Georgetown Township Cemetery. Friends may meet the family at the funeral
home Friday from 7 to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9
p.m. Arrangements by Posthumus-Karelse-Matthysse.
Cricket
Oh, cool - I even posted links in my response to IBegg's post - what'd I
win, what'd I win? (A year's supply of really bad puns?)
>
>
IBegg2Differ
>Oh, cool - I even posted links in my response to IBegg's post - what'd I
>win, what'd I win? (A year's supply of really bad puns?)
>
You'll get your prize posthumously. Hehehe. ;)