Grad student gunned down at Bridgeport market

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WTNH) -- A grad student from Bangladesh who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, got gunned down while visiting a friend at a Bridgeport convenience store.

The 22-year-old was only three weeks into the school year when his life was cut short.

The door to Layla's Market on Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport was locked tight Wednesday, leaving regular customer Caroline Hodge without her soda.

"Yeah, I come here a lot," Hodge said, "I come here a lot, yeah, I come here cause they got 89 cent Coca Colas, so yeah."

Hodge laughed when she made the comment, but she wasn't laughing when she found out why it was closed.

"That's sad, that's sad, no, but I didn't even know, didn't even know," Hodge said.

Just 24 hours before the store was the scene of the city's 19th homicide. 22-year-old Moin Hassan was gunned down while visiting a friend who works at Layla's.

Police say Hassan's friend was in the back room when he heard the shot. He came out to find Hassan lying on the floor behind the counter. He'd been shot once through the chest.

Hassan came here from Bangladesh to study engineering as a graduate student at the University of Bridgeport, and a few blocks away on the university's campus the news spread quickly.

"Dangerous and I'm scared," said Bin Wang, freshmen.

Wang is a freshman at the University of Bridgeport, and he's also far from home, coming to school from China. He says, he had no idea anything like that could happen here.

"The first time I come here and I saw the area's beautiful and there's flowers and trees and now I know things," said Wang, "I think just be careful, I'll be okay."

A crime that's sent shock waves through the beautiful beach-side campus, and left many mourning the loss of a life taken so suddenly, for seemingly, no reason at all.

"I've been on this street for about almost three years," said Hodge, "I've never really heard anything like this going on."

The University of Bridgeport's counseling department has been made available for students. Police are still investigating.

What exactly happened inside the convenience store is not yet clear. It may have been an attempted robbery; the victim did not work in the store, but he was found behind the counter. News 8 is told he had just stopped in to say hello to a friend.