Suspect Arrested in Atlanta for Murder of Pompano Beach Smoke Shop Owner, Awaiting Extradition to Broward County

After an exhaustive multi-state search, the Broward Sheriff's Office, in collaboration with Georgia authorities, arrested Claurry Paul, 25, on suspicion of murdering Pompano Beach smoke shop owner Sayf Abdelaziz. The Broward Sheriff's Office reported that their V.I.P.E.R. Unit effectively pinpointed and apprehended the suspect at an apartment in the Atlanta metro area, as detailed by Boca Post.

Details from the investigation, as Local 10 News covered it, indicate that just after midnight on March 30, an armed Paul allegedly walked into the Fire Up Smoke Shop at 1251 E. Sample Road, approached the counter, and fatally shot Abdelaziz. The suspect is said to have then fled on foot immediately. This brazen action claimed Abdelaziz's life, leaving the community and his family to hastily seek the justice which seemed elusive in the subsequent months.

Abdelaziz's brother, Hussein, witnessed the tragic event and described it to Local 10 News, saying, "My brother didn’t even see it coming; he got shot in the back of the head." The crime, which was captured on surveillance, spurred a $60,000 reward for information leading to an arrest — it remains unclear if the reward played a part in Paul's apprehension.

The county's troubles did not end with Abdelaziz's death. Another family in Pompano Beach is mourning Ke'tavious Walker, who succumbed to injuries after being found hurt in a home on the 700 block of N.W. 6th Street. Broward Crime Stoppers has since offered a $10,000 reward for information that could help solve Walker's case, as Hoodline reported. “I want justice," told Mohammad Abdelaziz, Sayf Abdelaziz's father, to Hoodline in seeking closure for his son's death — a sentiment surely echoed by the Walker family.

Paul faces charges of first-degree murder with a firearm and is pending extradition back to Broward County, according to the Boca Post.