Widow of slain Leesburg store owner: Death penalty would be 'too easy' for defendant

LEESBURG — The death penalty would be “too easy” for Alex Lopez if he is convicted of killing convenience store owner Raied Shihadeh in Leesburg on May 30, said his widow in a phone interview with the Daily Commercial.

“He should be put into solitary confinement and not be allowed to have any contact with his family,” Monique Shihadeh said. “We can’t talk to him, so it’s only fair that he can’t talk to his.”

“Every day is a gut punch,” she said from her home in Port St. Lucie. The death of her husband of 23 years has left a “deep, dark hole” in her family.

The State Attorney’s Office has not made a decision about whether to seek the death penalty for 25-year-old Lopez.

“We’re still looking at all the factors,” said Assistant State Attorney Rich Buxman. Prosecutors will also meet with Shihadeh’s family members to learn their wishes.

Lopez, who was arrested June 26 at a motel in Kissimmee, has not been arraigned, and the state has several days after that before having to notify the court of its intention.

Investigators say the store surveillance video clearly identifies Lopez as the shooter.

Shihadeh, who was known to his customers at the M&M Market on Picciola Road as “Ray,” was a hard-working father of five children, ages 13 to 20.

He was talking to Monique on Facetime about his 16-year-old daughter’s birthday that day, Monique Shihadeh said.

“She was very close to him.”

Shihadeh, 51, was a native of Jordan who came to America to live out the American dream.

“This country gave us a lot,” said his partner at the store, Adel Abbullah.

“It’s up to each individual. I don’t blame this country. I blame his [Lopez’s] parents, his neighborhood,” he said.

“This community is very supportive. I wish God gave me the time and strength to go and knock on every door to thank everyone. It’s overwhelming,” he said.

Monique Shihadeh says she is taking her grief one day at a time, but acknowledges, “I’m so angry.”

She would prefer to continue her husband’s legacy of having a “big smile on his face.”

She works with families on dependency issues. “Some parents try very hard,” she said, and some turn it around.

“I’m a believer in second chances,” she said, but not when it comes to Lopez.

Lopez was sentenced to four years in prison for grand theft auto and other charges in 2018.

“People think theft is a victimless crime, but they take from people like my husband.”

The gunman took less than $100 from the store that night, but he took something else, something precious and irreplaceable. He took a life and left “a deep, dark hole.”