RFP Staff
♦ Christopher Lee Watson, 25, plead guilty today in Superior Court for the senseless murder of Z&H Mart owner and popular neighborhood figure Hecham Abualeinan on December 10, 2012. Watson will spend the remainder of his life behind bars. On Monday he received “life without parole” for one count of first degree murder and 3 counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon (2 of the counts were for a previous robbery). He will receive from 73 to 100 months for each of the robbery counts.
The December 2012 murder was quickly solved after tipsters viewed the convenience store’s security camera photos on TV and alerted Rowan County Sheriff’s Office investigators about the suspects identities. Within 24 hours all three suspects Christopher Lee Watson, Kevin Lamont Canzater, and Maurice Robinson turned themselves in. They were charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon and first-degree murder.
The store security camera clearly showed Watson was the triggerman, shooting Abualeinan in the head and walking around his lifeless body on his way to the cash register. Watson scooped up the money and then hurried out the front door to meet up with Canzater and Robinson.
Canzater and Robinson await their court dates.
Hechem Abualeinan, 59, a native of Syria, is still warmly remembered by his neighbors and customers as a truly kind person with a friendly word for everyone he encountered. The expression “he’d take his shirt off his back for you” fits.
**This story will be updated with more details as they arrive.**
