Young Chinese Woman Fatally Shot During Convenience Store Robbery in Panama

Pan Ziying, believed to be 18, was shot and killed during her shift at a convenience store in Panama City on August 9.

Pan was working the cash register at a Chock Hou store in the Pedregal district of Panama City, Panama when two men stormed in and attempted to rob the place, the South China Morning Post reported.

Surveillance footage shows one of the two male suspects jumping over the store counter and grabbing Pan by the hair as she tries to take money out of the register.

A third armed male appears on camera and, according to Mi Diario Panamá, shoots the young woman in the head, and then flees. She was rushed to a local hospital, where she died from her injuries moments later.

A 15-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the shooting, and reportedly sentenced to one year’s detention for the “aggravated homicide of a 17-year-old girl”.

Police are searching for three other suspects.

Pan came to Panama from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou two years ago to make money so she could pay off her younger sister’s medical bills back in her home country.

Friends and extended family members went to the teenager’s funeral on Wednesday in Panama, a service her immediate family from Guangzhou couldn’t afford to attend.

“We seek justice, an end to violence, more peace and security for a community that is part of Panama,” said Tony Yan, a spokesman for the Chinese community in Panama City, condemning the fatal shooting and adding that Asian businesses were frequent targets of robberies and attacks.

Featured Image Via YouTube / diariolacritica

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