News

Pizzeria owner murdered during delivery

June 22, 2003

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MECHANICSVILLE, Va. -- El Said Abed believed his Mechanicsville Turnpike pizza shop should deliver to all neighborhoods, even those that are dangerous. Those good intentions may have cost him his life.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, his son, Sheady Abed, found his father shot to death late Friday night after he failed to return from a pizza delivery.

Henrico County police said Abed's body was discovered at about 11:15 p.m. on June 21, when his son went to the address where his father was supposed to have delivered a pizza 45 minutes earlier. The pizza was with the body, but a police official would not say whether anything else was taken because of an ongoing investigation.

El Said Abed immigrated to the U.S. from Zagazig, Egypt, in 1991, according to his other son, Ramy Abed. He said his father, who was 55, had been an offshore natural-gas engineer in Egypt, and worked at Wal-Mart and fast-food restaurants after arriving here.

Three years ago he bought a pizza restaurant in the 3100 block of Mechanicsville Turnpike, renamed it, then added another restaurant.

"That was our dream," Ramy Abed said. "We just wanted to work for ourselves. Secure our life here, our future. ... We provided a good service to everybody. We never had any problems."