New York: A 39-year-old Indian man, who worked at a gas station in the US state of Connecticut, has been fatally shot at by two masked men during an apparent robbery attempt. Sanjay Patel, who worked as a clerk at the gas station in New Haven, was shot three times in the chest and once in the hand by two masked men last night. A report in NBC Connecticut said Patel was taken to the Yale-New Haven Hospital where he died an hour later. Police said they were searching for the two men as the investigation continued. Patel's wife was pregnant with their first child. The report quoted New Haven Police as saying that a gunfire broke out at the gas station around 7:30 pm local time during the apparent robbery yesterday.

Gas station-owner Raj Ali told NBC that the robbers took Patel's life "for a couple hundred dollars. It's not worth it. It's bad." Witnesses said they saw two masked men running from the scene after the incident. "We are looking for two people that may be involved," said New Haven police spokesman Officer David Hartman. "We don't necessarily believe that two were firing guns. We know at least one was." Ali remembered Patel as someone who knew everybody. "He loved them. He joked with majority of the people," Ali said. "I don't know. I cannot believe that happened to him." Police said they don't believe there were any customers inside the gas station store when the robbers walked in and will check surveillance video as part of the investigation. "Sooner or later, the police are going to catch them and take them," Ali said. "That's what we are expecting. That's what we believe."