A 24-year-old woman and her 56-year-old father were fatally shot at a local store following a dispute over alcohol in the early hours of March 20 in Accomack County, shortly after the Shore Stop store opened for business. Police reports indicate that the suspect, 44-year-old George Frazier Devon Wharton, entered the store that morning to purchase liquor and inquired about its overnight closure. Shortly thereafter, he brandished a firearm and began shooting at the father and daughter. Pradeep Patel was pronounced dead at the scene, while his daughter Urmi was transported to a hospital, where she later died from her injuries. The Patel family, originally from the Mehsana district in Gujarat, had relocated to the United States six years prior and had been employed at the convenience store owned by a relative, Paresh Patel. Pradeep and Hansaben Patel have two other daughters, one residing in Canada and the other in Ahmedabad. Wharton has been apprehended and faces charges of first-degree murder, along with several felony and firearms-related offenses.
