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Brookfield police have released composite sketches of the two men believed to be responsible for robbing an Ogden Avenue liquor store Friday night and killing the store’s owner, 38-year-old Bashar “Bob” Fakhouri.
The two men being sought are reported to be black and in their mid-20s. One of the men is described as being 6-foot-2, with a corn-row hair style and a large nose. The other man is described as about 5-foot-9, with short hair and a thin goatee. Both were wearing black clothing, according to police.
This afternoon, police were seen talking a tall black man with a corn-row hairstyle outside Phoenix Liquor, 8814 Ogden Ave., and then getting into a vehicle with him and driving away. Police said this man was not a suspect, but a witness.
No suspects are in custody at this time.
Fakhouri, a Jordanian immigrant who lived in Alsip, was well-liked by those who knew him in the neighborhood. He operated the store with his brother, whom customers know as Mike. Bob Fakhouri was reportedly alone at the time the two men entered the store, around closing time Friday night.
“He was the best man in the world; he never had a bad word for anyone,” said Maryann Svec, who had known Fakhouri since he opened the store in about 2005. “If you needed a couple of bucks, he had it for you. He knew us all by name. He was the best.”
Svec was the person who called police after another friend began banging on doors at the Brookfield Motel, across the street from the liquor store, and yelling for someone to call 911. She said her friend saw one man run out of the store holding a bag. Moments later, another man ran out of the store.
“You could still see the smoke from the gun,” Svec said.
Fakhouri was found lying face-down on the floor of the store with a gunshot wound to his head. He pronounced dead at Loyola University Medical Center shortly after the robbery. Police have confirmed recovering a handgun from the area.
Steven Campbell, who owns the building that housed the liquor store, said that Fakhouri was a model tenant.
“He was a really, really nice guy,” Campbell said. “The two brothers were the kind of people you want coming over to this country. They were hard-working people just trying to live the American dream.”
Fakhouri’s cousin, Issa Sweis, who owns a Riverside liquor store called The Cork, said his family was stunned by the news. The family was just coming to grips with the loss of Fakhouri’s brother-in-law, who died in a freak late-night boating accident on the Cal-Sag Channel in late June. Fakhouri’s wife is out of the country, attending funeral services for her brother. Fakhouri and his wife have two children, both younger than 5.
