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Alleged shooter in deadly ARCO robbery will stand trial

A preliminary hearing is scheduled Thursday for an ex-con accused of fatally shooting a customer during a robbery of a Clairemont-area convenience store in April.

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A man accused of shooting a customer during a robbery at a Clairemont-area gas station convenience store must stand trial on murder and other charges, a judge ruled Thursday.

Ahmed Hassan Mumin, 30, is charged with murder with a special circumstance allegation that the killing happened during the course of a robbery. He is also charged with burglary, robbery, possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon and two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty if Mumin is convicted.

Surveillance video shows Mumin inside an Arco am/pm store pointing a gun at the clerk and 48-year-old Eric Schade about 3:45 a.m. on April 16, demanding cash and telling them to get down, Deputy District Attorney Michael Runyon alleged.

The clerk, Jose Aguilar, testified during a daylong preliminary hearing that the robber was wearing a dark beanie and a bandana covering his face.

Aguilar said he put the cash drawer on the counter. But Schade -- a neighborhood regular -- took a swipe at the robber's gun as if to push it out of his face, and Mumin took a step back and shot the victim once in the chest, the prosecutor alleged.

The defendant fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, according to court testimony.

Two days later, officers tracked Mumin to an apartment complex on Winona Avenue in City Heights. Runyon said Mumin hid behind a set of doors in a community room, and as a detective tried one of the doors, the defendant opened fire from behind another door, prompting the detectives to return fire, wounding Mumin in the abdomen.

A police criminalist testified that DNA taken from the recovered beanie and a 9mm shell casing matched the defendant.

Judge Frederic Link ruled that enough evidence was presented for Mumin to proceed to trial.

A Superior Court arraignment was set for July 31.

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