Family In India And Virginia Grieve for Meghna Patel Following Fatal Shooting

India-West News Desk

NORFOLK, VA – The community here and a family in Gujarat, are mourning the tragic loss of Meghna Patel, 47, who was fatally shot on the morning of May 23. Known affectionately to her community and family as a dedicated worker and loving mother, Patel had been an employee at Fat Philly’s on Azalea Garden Road for nearly a decade.

Originally from Jantral village in the Mehsana district of Gujarat, where her parents still reside, Patel had built a life and family in Portsmouth. She is survived by her husband, Upendra Patel, and her two children.

The incident occurred around 8:38 a.m. inside the store, which was mostly empty at the time. Surveillance footage captured a masked individual approaching the counter where Patel was working. After a brief interaction, the assailant produced a handgun and opened fire, causing Patel to collapse behind the counter. The attacker fired additional shots before fleeing the scene. Norfolk police officers arrived shortly after the shooting and pronounced Patel dead at the scene.

The violence that claimed Patel’s life was part of a larger sequence of events that began earlier that morning. According to Norfolk Police Chief Mark Talbot, the suspect, identified Marvale R. Bond, had previously been involved in a domestic dispute at a residence on Blackwood Avenue, where he shot and injured his stepfather.

Bond then traveled to Fat Philly’s, where an altercation preceded the fatal shooting of Patel. Following the attack at the store, authorities located Bond inside a running vehicle on a nearby roadway, where he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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