PARKVILLE, Md. — Muhammad Choudhry, 48, his pursuit of the American dream ended on the floor of the Speedy Mart in Parkville on November 12, 2006.

His niece spoke to us in the days following the murder.

“It’s just that we all love him so much. It’s so hard for us because it happened all of a sudden.”

Two armed men entered the store and attempted to rob the clerk in front of his wife and one of his five children.

“And they told everybody to lie on the floor, and my cousin and my aunt did, but my uncle didn’t,” the niece recounted.

Choudhry picked up a baseball bat to try to defend his family in what turned out to be his last act.

“During the course of the robbery, the victim was shot by one of the two suspects,” Baltimore County police said. Trae Corbin, “Both individuals were wearing masks and hooded sweatshirts.”

Choudhry moved his large family to the United States from Pakistan six years earlier to give them better opportunities in life.

“All he could think about was how to support his family, how to keep them on their feet, send them to good schools, give them a good education,” his niece told us.

In an instant, a pair of armed men who couldn’t get out of the store with any money, robbed that family of their patriarch.

“He just visited us the day before he died and he was such a lively person the whole time – you know, making fun, making jokes,” his niece recalls, “Such a lively heart and he’s going to miss him. until death.”

If you have information that could help police, you’re asked to call detectives at 410-887-3943.