{"id":85954,"date":"2025-12-16T23:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T23:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/85954\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T23:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T23:04:07","slug":"murder-trial-underway-for-man-accused-of-killing-port-st-lucie-store-owner-in-leesburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/85954\/","title":{"rendered":"Murder trial underway for man accused of killing Port St. Lucie store owner in Leesburg"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAKE COUNTY, Fla (CBS12) \u2014 The murder trial is underway for a convicted felon accused of shooting a store clerk <\/a>to death during a robbery in Central Florida last year.<\/p>\n

The victim, 51yearold Raied \u201cRay\u201d Shihadeh of Port St. Lucie, was a husband and father of five. Family members say he was a devoted provider who commuted hours from the Treasure Coast to Leesburg to operate his store and support his family.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, family members came face to face with the man accused of gunning him down \u2013 26yearold Alex Lopez.<\/p>\n

Opening statements began after a jury was selected Monday. Lopez listened as several witnesses took the stand, including the lead investigator, a DNA analyst with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and an acquaintance familiar with Lopez. The victim\u2019s family sat just feet away.<\/p>\n

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘He took a good person:’ Port St. Lucie family of slain store owner pleads for justice<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Tuesday<\/p>\n

Tuesday December 16, 2025: Alex Lopez listens during opening statements in a Lake County courtroom, where he faces charges including first\u2011degree murder in the shooting death of store clerk Raied Shihadeh. (WKMG)<\/p>\n

Surveillance video from May 2024 shows the suspect entering the store, shooting Shihadeh, then jumping the counter to grab cash and a vape product.<\/p>\n

Shihadeh was on FaceTime with his wife when he was shot inside the M&M Food Mart. <\/p>\n

Lopez evaded police for weeks before being arrested in Osceola County<\/a> in June 2024.<\/p>\n

Shihadeh\u2019s wife, Monique, spoke to CBS12 News last year after Lopez was captured. \u201cThere\u2019s moments when there\u2019s tears, somberness. It\u2019s been a struggle,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"SlainSlain shop owner, Raied ‘Ray’ Shihadeh, 51 is remembered as a devoted husband and father of five who worked hard to provide for his family. \u201cThere are moments when there\u2019s tears, somberness. It\u2019s been a struggle,\u201d Monique Shihadeh said. \u201cHe was just always my rock, always. We were a team, a great team.\u201d (Tarleshia Jerger)<\/p>\n

His sisterinlaw, Tarleshia Jerger, added, \u201cfor him to be taken like that, suddenly and just senseless, my heart\u2019s for my sister and my nieces and nephews.\u201d<\/p>\n

His wife is expected to testify later this week.<\/p>\n

Lopez faces multiple charges, including firstdegree murder, robbery with a firearm, and possession of a firearm or ammunition by a felon, while a concealed weapon charge was dropped in court. Prosecutors have confirmed they are not seeking the death penalty. If convicted, Lopez could face life in prison without parole.<\/p>\n

\"No<\/p>\n

No death penalty in trial of Alex Lopez (right), the man accused of killing a Port St. Lucie store clerk and father of five, Raied “Ray” Shihadeh (left). (Family photo\/Leesburg PD)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAKE COUNTY, Fla (CBS12) \u2014 The murder trial is underway for a convicted felon accused of shooting a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-85954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}