Gas station attendant murdered in Willingboro, NJ

WILLINGBORO, N.J. - February 13, 2013 (WPVI) -- Police say a Burlington County gas station attendant was just doing his job when his business was targeted and he was murdered.

It happened at the Lukoil gas station on Route 130 and Charleston Road in Willingboro, N.J. early Sunday.

"For his family I can only imagine what they are going through right now, and it's a shame what happened," said customer Mo Ahmad.

Customers reacted Wednesday to the death of gas attendant Bal Krishan Karki. The body of the 46-year-old immigrant from Nepal was found at 2:45 a.m. Sunday in a back room at the 24-hour gas station.

"He was a real good guy," said Kevin Brown.

Brown is a daily customer and spoke to Karki just hours before he was killed.

"It was just, 'How you doing?'" said Brown. "I never thought that would be the last time I speak to him, you know what I mean?"

Co-workers and customers describe the victim as a nice guy, a friendly father of two who sent most of his earnings from the gas station back to his family in Nepal.

"Some of these gas attendants, I know that's probably what they do," said customer Amia Cromwell. "They work all night long, and they send their money home to their family. And now look what happened. This is really sad."

This isn't the first murder of a gas attendant in this area. In 2008 a father of six from Bangladesh was pumping gas at a U.S. station in Westampton when he was shot to death.

Two men were convicted in that case, and now police here are trying to track down Bal Krishna Karki's killer.

The Lukoil in Willingboro has been a 24-hour operation for two decades. But after Karki's murder, the station has ended its overnight hours.

And while it may be inconvenient, several customers told us they understand the decision.

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new jersey, homicide, local/state, nora muchanic

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