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911 call reveals frantic moments after beloved gas station clerk was robbed, murdered

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police are still looking for the masked man who murdered 50-year-old Ismael Doumbia.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NBC Charlotte has obtained the 911 call from the robbery and shooting that left a beloved gas station clerk dead.   

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police are still looking for the masked man who murdered 50-year-old Ismael Doumbia.  

The crime happened at Shell on Freedom Drive earlier this month. Police said there's a significant reward of up to $15,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case.   

During the 911 call, the dispatcher did not even finish her sentence, before the caller interrupted.

“I’ve got an emergency over here on Freedom Drive. I think the store owner just got killed,” the caller said.

In the chaotic moments, the caller referred to the shooting victim as the store owner. However, police identified the victim as a store clerk.  

The grieving owner, Mohamed Darwish, spoke to NBC Charlotte about his heartbreaking phone call with police.

“The first question I asked, ‘Is my clerk okay?’ They said, ‘We cannot disclose’. That alone just kind of shocked me a little,” Darwish previously told NBC Charlotte.

Darwish soon learned Doumbia was dead. Police released surveillance video showing a masked man storming into the store with his gun drawn and opening fire within seconds.

“Did I hear you correctly? Was someone shot?” the dispatcher asked the 911 caller.

“Yes. The owner (was) shot. Send an ambulance, yes,” the caller responded.

“For someone to walk into a store and shoot at close range, he's a very dangerous man and he needs to be off the street,” Darwish previously told NBC Charlotte.

Meanwhile, there was an outpouring of support from the community. Customers and others lit candles, left flowers, and wrote heartfelt notes as a tribute to the beloved clerk.  

“Ismael has been part of this community, part of this store, part of my family, I call him a brother,” Darwish said. “We are just devasted and heartbroken by the loss.”

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