One person has been charged in the death of a man in north central Edmonton on Wednesday. Sukhjit Randhawa, 48, was found suffering from serious injuries at a strip mall in the area of 112 Avenue and 82 Street around 1 p.m. He died in hospital. An autopsy on Thursday found his death is a homicide, but the cause of death is being withheld for investigative reasons. Nicholas Butler-Chowace, 22, has been charged with second-degree murder . A friend of Randhawa says his death started with an attempted robbery. Ravi Praksh says a man was attempting to steal liquor from Randhawa’s store when Randhawa locked the door. That’s when he says Randhawa was attacked. “He got killed inside his own store,” Praksh told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday. “This area of Edmonton city is horrible in terms of safety and security.” Praksh said he is also a business owner and his staff have been the victims of crime. “They come inside our store. They threaten our employees. They take free stuff. They grab and they go. And this is not new, the challenges of what we are facing here.” He says more needs to be done to protect small business owners and their staff from violence. “Where is the safety aspect? What are we doing here? What is that surety that this is not going to happen again?” He asked. Police are not looking for any additional suspects in the case.
