A pre-dawn shooting at the Shore Stop convenience store on Lankford Highway in Accomac left two members of the Patel family dead. On March 20, 2025, 56-year-old Pradipkumar Ratilal Patel was found unresponsive inside the store with fatal gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. His 24-year-old daughter, Urmi Pradipbhai Patel, was also shot and airlifted to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in critical condition; she died from her injuries on March 22, 2025.

The family had emigrated from Gujarat, India, to the United States six years earlier on a visitor visa with another daughter. Authorities arrested 44-year-old George Frazier Devon Wharton of Onancock and initially charged him with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, firearm offenses and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; he was held without bond. An Accomack County Grand Jury later returned an eleven-count indictment that included two counts of first-degree murder and multiple related firearm and malicious-shooting charges. No motive has been released.

Does anyone have information about the Patels, their time in the community, or the events that morning that could help clarify what happened?