LEESBURG, Fla. — Prosecutors have opted to not seek the death penalty against Alex Lopez, the man accused of killing a Leesburg store clerk in a robbery earlier this year.
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FDLE agents arrested Lopez in the Kissimmee area at the end of June, more than a month after the murder of 51-year-old Raied Shihadeh.
Surveillance video from the store shows the robber entering and immediately shooting Shihadeh as the clerk was FaceTiming his wife. Shihadeh was shot several more times before the gunman left with approximately $100 from the register.
Read: Woman connected to Leesburg store clerk’s death turns herself in, police say
In an interview with WFTV, Shihadeh’s wife said she hoped prosecutors would not pursue death, calling it the easy way out.
“For him to sit on death row with an impending day of death… would that be suffering? Yes, but it wouldn’t be enough,” she said, shortly after Lopez’s arrest. “I feel like he should suffer for the rest of his life.”
Prosecutors did not offer any details into their decision making, or say if Monique Shihadeh’s opinion factored into it.
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