Before tragedy struck, nearly every day for the last five years, Sudhir Shah had driven from his home in Arbutus to his small Yours convenience store off Frederick Road in the heart of Catonsville.

There he sold everyday items such as chips, sodas and cigarettes, as well as spices and other items frequently used in his native India but more difficult to find in suburban Baltimore County.

The store and its dedicated owner, a husband and father, attracted fellow Indian residents from around the area, friends said, including students from the nearby campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

“He would work seven days a week, and sometimes I could see he was getting very tired,” said Bala Akundi, a resident of nearby Sanford Avenue and fellow Indian who became friends with Shah from years of shopping in his store.

“I would say, ‘Why don’t you close the store one day a week?’ and he would say, ‘I have all these people who depend on me.’ ” Akundi said.

“Sudhir has been running the store alone for a long time,” Akundi said. “And he was actually looking forward to a break.”

On the evening of Nov. 17, an armed robber entered the store and demanded money, police said.

In the ensuing minutes, Shah, 55, was shot, as was a customer and friend, Brian Meise, 52.

Meise lived in an apartment just across the street on Ingleside Avenue and had become close to Shah from doing odd jobs for him.

When county police arrived at the store at about 7 p.m. after getting a 911 call from Shah, they found the store owner shot in the upper body, and Meise dead on the store’s floor.

Shah was rushed to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in critical condition. He is now expected to survive and is recovering at home, said his brother, Rajesh Shah.

Details of his injuries are still being withheld by police as they look for the gunman who inflicted them.

Police said the shots were fired for “no apparent reason.”

Rajesh Shah said he and his family, including his brother’s wife and son, are now tending to his brother while taking an endless stream of calls from well-wishers and friends.

The outpouring of support does not surprise Akundi, who visited Shah in the hospital and has called Shah’s brother almost every day for updates on his condition.

Over the years, Akundi and Shah formed a “personal relationship” founded on their shared heritage and routine interactions in the store, Akundi said.

“Sudhir was so nice,” Akundi said.

“Every time I would go there with my kids, he would give them something free — whatever they wanted, a candy bar or an ice cream in the summer time,” he said.

“The kids almost felt like it was their own shop.”

Akundi said he had been in the store a few days prior to the shooting with his daughter Uma, 11, and son Rohan, 7. The news of the shooting has been “a big shock” for his entire family.

He and his wife Shailaja routinely bought Indian items from the store, and often hired Shah’s family — who run an informal catering business — to cook Indian dishes whenever they hosted parties in their Catonsville home.

“Our friends, both Indian and American friends, would love the various preparations,” Akundi said.

“His sister makes these awesome samosas.”

Once, when Akundi hadn’t been to Shah’s store for two weeks, Shah called him to make sure he was OK, he said.

“You don’t come across too many store owners or people like that,” Akundi said.

“I think he cared genuinely about the people who came to his store,” he said.

“He is very personable, a very sweet gentleman.”

Shannon Kaiser, the sister of Brian Meise and a local dentist who is also friends with Akundi, said her family wants to do everything it can to help Shah and his family during the coming months.

“Sudhir is going to have such a long road ahead,” Kaiser said.

“On behalf of Brian, I would like to extend some kind of help to Sudhir and his family,” she said.

“I know that’s what Brian would do and would want.”

Akundi said there are many people in town who feel the same way.

“He is just a wonderful human being, and hopefully he’ll be able to make a full recovery.”

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