North Stafford, Va. –– With few details in the shooting death of Samih Mustafa Sowan, many who knew him say they don’t how anyone could have wanted him dead.
Sowan, 49, was killed March 1 inside a home where he rented a room in North Stafford’s Austin Ridge neighborhood. According to the county’s sheriff’s department, someone that night broke into the home of Fife Street and shot Sowan to death.
Two men were seen fleeing the scene of the shooting, but investigators have offered few other details in the case.
“The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office is actively investigating this case and are pursuing any and all leads in the case,” said Stafford sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy.
Sowan managed a Subway restaurant in Aquia Town Center before it was torn down to make way for a new office building. He later opened a new Subway restaurant at the intersection of Courthouse Road (Va. 630) and Wapole Street, and hired area residents to help him run it.
“Samih was strict yet efficient. We were constantly challenged to live up to his standards of excellence. Yet, he was also compassionate; he was always buying us presents and giving monetary bonuses, sometimes even, for no feasible reason at all. If we ever refused, he insisted,” said Allan Roeder, who worked for Sowan since 2007.
Another employee was shocked when she heard Sowan has been killed.
“It took a couple of days for me to realize that he was murdered. Once it sunk in, I was really upset and going to work was really hard, and I honestly believe that going to work will never be the same. I didn’t believe it because I don’t know who would ever do something so horrible,” said 17-year-old Lexy. “It seemed to me that everyone liked Samih so I don’t know who would kill him.”
Following Sowan’s death, Kennedy said the neighborhood “was secure” and said there was little evidence to suggest the shooter would return.
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