Security guard dies from injuries

After spending five days on life support, a Queens security guard died on Friday, May 19 succumbing to injuries he suffered when he tried to foil a robbery attempt outside a Jamaica store.
Awali Khouroupra, 52, who was working security outside Pretty Girl clothing store on Jamaica Avenue, spotted thieves running out of the store and chased after them.
The alleged thieves ran into a van while Khouroupra pursued them and held onto the hood of the van before the suspects sped away flinging Khouroupra to the ground.
“I feel very sad about it; he has a family,” said Abubaker Yahia, who manages the Pretty Girl shop where Khouroupra worked security for the past year. “He came here to make money and a better life for his family.”
On Wednesday, May 16, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown charged Springfield Gardens resident Philip J. Zabriskie, 53, with felony assault and robbery and identified him as the driver of the van trying to flee the crime. Zabriskie also faces charges of fleeing the accident, and all of the charges could put him in jail for up to 25 years.
However, sources close to the investigation said that no decision on whether to increase those charges, which were filed before Khouroupra died, had been made yet. The source said that the earliest an announcement about whether to increase the charges would not come until the defendant’s next court date.
In addition to Zabriskie, authorities are still looking for two other suspects involved in the robbery, where witnesses reportedly saw other individuals running out of the store with close to 20 pairs of jeans.
Meanwhile, Yahia said that his store is currently working to have Khouroupra’s body returned to his wife and two young children in Togo and plans to pay for the costs.
“His wife is very, very upset about it,” Yahia said. “She keeps crying and she cannot believe it happened.”
During his time working security at the store, Yahia described Khouroupra as someone who took pride in his job and was trying to make a better life for his family.
“He was always supporting his kids,” Yahia said. “He sent money to his family. He tried to bring his family here.”