Woodbury Gas Station Attendant Shot Sunday Night

A worker at the Garden State Fuel gas station on Broad Street in Woodbury was shot, perhaps fatally, in what was believed to have been a robbery attempt Sunday night, according to eyewitness accounts.

UPDATE: August 26 - 12:39 p.m. The victim has been identified by authorities as Surinder Singh of Woodbury, who confirmed that he has died from his injury.

No official word was available from authorities at the scene, which included representatives of the Woodbury and Deptford Police Departments and of the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office.

Initial police radio reports indicated the shooter or shooters took off north on Broad Street in a silver car.

Witnesses at the Colonial Diner said they saw a man they recognized as a friendly, regular customer, the co-owner of the gas station next door, lying in the street following the gunfire.

Angel Vega, whose cousin works at the diner, said she had texted his family, who are regular customers at the gas station, after the shooting. Vega said he recognized the victim as a close family friend who would occasionally give them free gas.

Vega identified the victim from an NJ.com story about a 2008 house fire the family had suffered in 2008. He described him as a family man who had recently brought his wife into the country and was celebrating the birth of his child.

"I went there two weeks ago," Vega said. "He was talking about how he's all right, how he's doing great, and now he's gone. It really hurts.

"Down here it was awesome," Vega said. "It was a quiet area. Seems like everybody's coming from other places and going crazy."

Alfred Jackson of Clayton, who has worked at the diner off and on for 13 years, said that at first he thought the man had been hit by a car.

Jackson said he was "pretty sure [the man] was conscious" when emergency responders took him away.

"I know his eyes were open," Jackson said. "He was laying in the street.

"I wouldn't ever think that something like that would happen in this area," he said. "Nobody deserves that." 

Daniel Lasure of Egg Harbor Twp., who works at the diner, said he was outside texting when he heard what he thought was a blown tire around 9:11 p.m. on Sunday.

His coworker, Christine Wiegand of Mt. Ephraim, said she too thought she'd overheard a vehicle noise.

"We heard a pop," she said, "like a blowout.

"The guy stopped. He sat wiggling in the middle of the street."

Wiegand said that the victim had "been there for years," and that she believed his gas station had been robbed twice in the past. 

She added that she had overheard radio chatter from first responders indicating that the victim may have been diverted from Cooper Trauma Center in Camden to nearby Inspira in Woodbury.

Emergency departments at both facilities were unable to confirm  Sunday night whether any victim had been transported there.

A West Deptford resident whose daughter left the scene with investigators said her daughter had been pulling up to get gas when the alleged shooting happened.

"[She] saw smoke from the gun," the woman said. "Then they took off towards the highway."
 
"He said, 'Help me'; she called 9-1-1."

Stick with Patch for the official word from authorities on the incident as it is made available.