A minimarket employee was killed over a pizza order, the police said

MILWAUKEE (WISN) — A Milwaukee man is behind bars on charges of first-degree negligent homicide for shooting a convenience store clerk while ordering a pizza.

The shooting happened just before noon Saturday, Oct. 19, at Action Food & Liquor at Martin Luther King Jr. Street and Keefe Avenue in Milwaukee.

According to the criminal complaint, Charles Leggett, 38, ordered a pizza at the store and told investigators during questioning that the man making his pizza was not wearing gloves.

A minimarket employee was killed over a pizza order, the police said — Leggett, 38, was arrested and charged with murdering a convenience store employee over a pizza order.

Surveillance video from inside the store shows Leggett returning to the cashier where he originally ordered the pizza and beginning to argue with the man, identified as 26-year-old Jameel Owais, the complaint says. After a brief argument, Leggett admitted to investigators that he reached over the counter and shot Owais in the chest before running out of the store.

Owais would die at the scene, behind the counter of the family store on the corner.

“He’s like my son,” Owais’ older brother Mohammad Owais told WISN 12 News on Thursday. “Like me, he came when he was a little boy and grew up around me.”

Mohammad says Owais immigrated to the United States in 2013 from his homeland in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank. He was at the store on Saturday to cover for Mohammed, who owns the business, while he ran an errand.

“When I got to the store they said to me, ‘Sorry for your loss,’ you know, and we lost him. It’s a big loss, you know. He is a good guy, he has never hurt anyone. He is friendly with everyone in the neighborhood,” Mohammad said.

Owais, 26, was shot dead after police said he got into an argument at his brother's convenience store over a pizza order. — Owais, 26, was shot dead after police said he got into an argument at his brother’s convenience store over a pizza order.

WISN 12 News spoke with an employee who was making Leggett’s pizza that day. He was afraid of being recognised, but when asked if he was wearing gloves while cooking, he said, “I was wearing gloves, I’m pretty sure.”

Mohammad says his younger brother left behind his wife and six-month-old daughter. He comes from a family of 12 people.

Action Food & Liquor customers were stunned to hear the news, describing Owais as a kind, funny and dedicated person.

Leggett is a convicted felon who shouldn’t have had a gun. On Thursday, a court commissioner set his cash bond at $200,000. If convicted, he could face up to 75 years in prison.