Man found murdered inside smoke shop in Bradenton

BRADENTON, Fla. - A Bradenton man told detectives he watched live surveillance video of two suspects pointing guns at his brother inside the Green Galaxy Smoke Shop. 

The brother of 23-year-old Mohammed Hamed said he logged in to the surveillance camera system around 11 p.m. Tuesday and saw two people with guns pointed at his brother, who was on the ground inside the shop.

When Manatee County deputies got to the Oasis Plaza, located at 3212 1st Street West, Hamed was dead and the suspects were gone. Detectives said it appeared to be an attempted robbery gone wrong.

Hamed's friends were devastated Wednesday when they found out what happened.

"Right now I'm just hurt because that was like my brother," Hamed's friend, Jaylin Upshaw said.

"This is senseless, for anything that happened for this man to be killed it's not worth it. It's not," Hamed's friend, Letitia Parker said.

"He was a very solid, grounded, intelligent individual," said Parker of Hamed. "I'm just broken right now that this would happen to anybody."

The shop was open to the public at the time but detectives said they learned Hamed would sometimes sleep at the store to keep it safe. 

Investigators released surveillance images of the two suspects, hoping someone recognizes them, but they did not release details about how Hamed was killed for "investigative reasons."

One of the suspects was armed with an SKS rifle with a bayonet.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Manatee County Sheriff's Office at 941-747-3011.