Police said 33-year-old Mohammed Maali was killed after he confronted people trying to rob his store in the Park Manor neighborhood Friday afternoon. Two of the suspects were also shot.
Two teenage boys, a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old, are charged with first-degree murder in Maali's death.
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Now Maali's family wants everyone to know just how much he was loved.
RELATED: Store clerk killed, 2 suspects injured in Park Manor shooting during robbery; 4 in custody
"A father, a husband, a son. How anyone, they're inhumane, who can do this to anyone? They are just not human," said Hibba Haleem, Maali's cousin.
Haleem said the family has been left devastated by his death, especially because of the upcoming birthday of Maali's young twin daughters of which one is disabled.
"His daughter is just crying her eyes out because her dad is not by her," Haleem said. "Her birthday is in a few more days and she's asking for her dad to be there, but he's not going to be there for her birthday."
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The attack, which claimed the life of the 33-year-old husband and father, occurred Friday afternoon at the store he'd only opened a few months ago near 71st and Michigan.
On Saturday afternoon, a few tokens of grief were placed at the store by residents who knew Maali by his nickname, Omar. He's remembered as a kind and generous man who often extended credit to customers short on money.
"The children he would give them stuff, give them candy. He was selling belts for ten dollars. I'm talking Gucci belts and stuff like that that they charge you $25 and $30 for," said resident Michael Cherry.
Resident Nefertiti Ruffin said, "It's no God out here no more. It's no love out here and people be hating and it's sad."
Investigators said gunfire erupted inside the 71st Street store after four would-be thieves walked in and took cash from the register. That's when police said Maali pulled out his own gun and shot two of the robbers, who returned fire striking him in the chest. He later died at an area hospital.
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The robbers fled the area but were later apprehended by police. All four are in custody, including the two who are hospitalized.
Charges are pending and a weapon was recovered, Chicago police said.
Meanwhile, a family struggles to cope with the loss.
"It's going to take a lot of time because all we're going to do is remember everything about him," Haleem said.