Father Killed Inside Arden Area Store While Shopping With 4-Year-Old Daughter

ARDEN-ARCADE (CBS13) — Sheriff's deputies continue to investigate a shooting rampage inside a local grocery store that happened Saturday in the Arden-Arcade area.

A gunman shot three people Saturday afternoon at East Market and Restaurant off El Camino Avenue, before turning the gun on himself – and now deputies are focused on determining a motive.

People who shop at East Market see it as a safe haven, a place to find foods from home. They are desperate to know why innocent people were attacked and a man was killed as he shopped with his young daughter.

A witness said Shujauudin Omerkheil and his daughter Bushra were buying food for Saturday night dinner when he was shot while holding bread, rice and his daughter's hand.

"When someone kills the father in front of this four-year-old daughter, that's absolutely...I can not describe it..how that daughter will feel now," said Farhad Yousafzai, a family friend and local Afghan community organizer.

Yousafzai said the two other men who were shot have serious injuries. One is in critical condition and the other still has a bullet lodged in his shoulder.

Survivors told Yousafzai that the shooter walked into the store looking angry.

"All of a sudden he is hearing a big shot and a person collapsed," Yousafzai said.

A spokesperson for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department said the attack appears random. They said the suspect is of Afghan descent.

"We are scared when we hear this type of news because we people, I personally, was born in war, grow up in war and we are still here and still in war," said Yousafzai, who is from Afghanistan.

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He said Omerkheil leaves behind his daughter, a six-month-old son and wife. He had served the US government in Afghanistan before getting a special visa to come here and start a new life two years ago.

"He was a person always loving his children. A person always taking care of his children," Yousafzai said.

He was a father full of hope for a better life in Sacramento.

"We are here to be safe. We are here to do better for ourselves, our family and for the community," Yousafzai said.

Yousafzai said the victims' families are in desperate need of help from the community. He has organized a GoFundMe account to help with funeral expenses and Omerkheil's wife and children.