Candy Store Owner, 77, Killed

By George Mallet

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MILWAUKEE - The 77-year-old operator of The Silver Spring Variety Store on Silver Spring Road and Fond du Lac is dead following a robbery and shooting late Wednesday. “I think it’s the saddest thing in the world,” said Marcia Goins as she watched Milwaukee Police stretching yellow tape around the crime scene. Goins mother, Anna Hamiel, sells Avon products in the same building and was on the scene when the murder happened. “She heard him say, ‘Get out of here’ and the next thing she knows she heard shots and she called me and she said she thought he was hurt or dead,” Goins said. After the murder, a lone gunman was seen running from the shop southbound. Late Wednesday Milwaukee Police were checking to see if any outdoor surveillance cameras captured useful images of that man. “We’re checking with witnesses to get a better description of the guy who actually ran out of the store here,” said Milwaukee Police Deputy Inspector Gregory Thompson. Meantime, those who loved the popular store owner known in the neighborhood as “Mr. Roland” were beginning to confront their own grief. “He just wants to sell candy,” Goins said, her voice cracking. “It’s just a candy store and Avon, you know? It’s not anything. They don’t make a lot of money.”