Fundraiser created for family of ‘great man and father’ fatally shot outside Synovus bank
Monday’s fatal shooting of Columbus convenience store owner Amit Patel outside a Synovus bank branch robbed his family of its primary income. The death also leaves his wife as the sole caregiver for his 3-year-old daughter, two disabled in-laws and a retired in-law.
That’s why Parimal Desai organized a GoFundMe account to raise money for Patel’s family.
“Amit was one of the most loving, calm and gentle souls we knew,” Desai wrote on the page, “and if you had the opportunity to meet him, you would know the warmth of a great man and father.”
Patel, 43, owner of the Pyramid Food Mart and gas station at 3512 Buena Vista Road, was pronounced dead outside the bank at 10:09 a.m. Monday by Muscogee County Deputy Coroner Charles Newton.
The bank building, about a mile west on Buena Vista from Pyramid, also houses the Columbus Police Department’s East Precinct, where the entrance is only feet from the shooting’s location.
Vinnie Patel, Amit Patel’s business partner but of no relation to the victim, said Amit Patel was depositing money and receipts from over the weekend when he was shot at the bank entrance. The shooter took the money, he said.
“A very hardworking young man, who was headed to deposit his hard-earned money at the bank, gets robbed and killed on the day of his daughter’s birthday,” Desai wrote. “Now it’s a milestone the little girl may never forget.”
As of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, 902 donors combined to raise a total of $106,122. The goal is $500,000.
“We are trying to collect donations so that his family can have some time to adjust,” Desaid wrote. “In order to help support the grieving family, we ask you to donate any money possible. Every penny counts!”
The funeral service will be Dec. 12, starting at 11 a.m., in the chapel of McMullen Funeral Home and Crematory, 3874 Gentian Blvd., in Columbus. It also will be livestreamed on McMullen’s website.
Staff writers Tim Chitwood and Nick Wooten contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 8, 2021 at 5:13 PM.
