A Jamaica Estates businessman, who was bludgeoned so severely during a robbery inside his pawn shop last month police initially thought he had been shot in the head, died over the weekend, leading authorities to reclassify the investigation into the attack as a homicide.
Arasb Shoughi, 60, of Kent Street, succumbed to his injuries the morning of April 17 at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where he was taken after the March 28 attack inside his Global Pawn Shop on Jamaica Avenue near 179th Street.
Police from the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica responded to a 911 call of an assault in progress inside the pawn shop just before 1 p.m.and found the victim with severe head trauma. EMS responded to the crime scene and transported the victim to Jamaica Hospital, where doctors revealed that the victim was suffering from blunt force trauma, police said.
The NYPD released chilling surveillance video from inside the shop days after the attack that showed Shoughi knocked to the floor and viciously beaten in the head with a metal pipe by the suspect who removed jewelry from the pawn shop before fleeing the crime scene westbound on Jamaica Avenue, according to the NYPD.
The assailant was described asbeing 5 feet 7 inches tall around 150 pounds with a medium build. He was wearing a green Adidas baseball cap, a black face mask, a dark blue hooded jacket, a black backpack, dark green pants and black shoes.
The alleged killer is still on the loose and the homicide investigation is ongoing, according to the NYPD.
Anyone with information in regard to the identity of the suspects is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at nypdcrimestoppers.com, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
