HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. – From the street, you can hear the sobs coming from the house. Hassan Ali Hussein came to the United States from Yemen, seeking a better life. Now, his family is devastated by his senseless death.
The 59 year old was shot and killed by a robber Wednesday as he worked as the overnight clerk at the Citgo gas station in Highland Park at Hamilton and Glendale.
Hussein retired after a long career from Chrysler, but took the gas station job to help put one of his four daughters through college.
His family says Hussein was growing wary of his safety working at the gas station and was planning to quit the job this week.
But two men had other plans.
Security camera footage obtained by Local 4 shows how everything happened.
VIDEO: Shawn Ley reports
Just after 3 a.m., one man entered the station and dropped a bottle of juice, making a mess.
As he left, another man slipped an object between the door and the door frame so it wouldn't lock.
The man hides near the door and when he saw Hussein come from behind the counter to clean up the mess, he rushed in.
Surveillance camera footage shows the two men struggling, and the robber shooting the man dead.
That robber coldly stepped over Hussein's body, and proceeded to empty the registers of cash.
Hussein's family is devastated.
"He was the kindest, most generous person I know. I think he supports maybe three or four families back in Yemen," said Nassar Alkhateeb, Hussein's cousin. "I still don't believe it. I didn't think that would happen to him. For a man who loved life that to be taken away."
It's not the first time the men have done this.
Last week, two men used the same method of making a mess inside the BP at Woodward and Glendale, and when the clerk left the protective booth, a man held a gun to his head and robbed the store.
Police believe the cases are related.
After Wednesday's robbery and killing, investigators were at the BP comparing security camera photos of the suspects.
Clerks are on high alert.
At that BP, an employee carries a handgun and keeps an AR-15 assault rifle nearby. He says he believed the robbers would come back to rob again. That employee had no idea they would rob and kill his friend right down the street.
Hussein is survived by a wife, four daughters and nine grandchildren.