Man held in killing of Burlco attendant

A Burlington Township man was arrested yesterday and charged with killing a gas-station attendant during a late-night robbery last month in Westampton.

Authorities said Terrance S. Clemons, 20, shot Abdur Rahman on April 14 at the U.S. Gas station where Rahman worked the night shift. Clemons then allegedly fled and disposed of his handgun.

Rahman immigrated here from Bangladesh in 1990 and had been sending money to his wife and eight children back home. Known as a hardworking, smiling man who talked freely and often, Rahman, 50, was the second immigrant worker since 2006 slain at a gas station that is part of the U.S. Gas chain in South Jersey owned by Malkeet Singh.

"The 20-year-old - why he kill a 50-year-old?" wondered Suki Singh, the chain manager.

He added: "At least [the employees] know the guy's been caught, so they can work happily now. . . . They were kind of nervous."

The death prompted members of the Westampton and South Asian community to raise thousands of dollars to send to Rahman's family.

Clemons was indicted on robbery charges in August in Gloucester County. No one answered the door yesterday at his Mystic Avenue home, a sprawling beige house with forest-green shutters. The neighborhood is quiet, with big homes and well-kept lawns. A silver Mercedes-Benz was in his driveway.

Clemons apparently lived with a relative and worked at a warehouse, according to officials in the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office. His bail was set at $750,000.

Rahman lived four miles away in Burlington City with several other U.S. Gas workers, in a modest light-blue townhome on a crowded street.

There, Rahman's replacement on the night shift widened his eyes when he was told of the arrest.

"Oh, very good," said Ajit Ram, 62.

Of the suspect, he said: "He is a small child. No good."

Authorities said they would not divulge how they had come to charge Clemons because the matter remained under investigation.

The circumstances of the slaying presented challenges from the beginning. The gas station's surveillance camera was not working, and the intersection - Route 541 and Burr Road - usually is deserted late at night. A customer discovered Rahman's body shortly after the shooting.

Abdul Sabur, 27, a Berlin resident who knew Rahman when both lived in the Bangladeshi city of Chittagong, said the man's family there was reeling because Rahman had been its sole provider. Sabur has talked with one of Rahman's sons about coming to the United States, but the son is unable to obtain a visa, Sabur said.

The gunman, he said, "killed one guy. He killed a whole family. Eight children - who's going to feed them?"

"Twenty years? Why they kill? Why they kill?" asked Ravi Singh, 24, his voice rising.

For Ravi Singh, who lives with Ram and works at the U.S. Gas where Kulbir Singh, 70, was stabbed to death 11/2 years ago, allegedly by a 19-year-old, there was little occasion for relief.

"Kill is kill," he said. "No come back, whether arrested or no arrested."