Albany police solve 2018 homicide with recent arrest

ALBANY — After more than two years of investigation, the Albany Police Department thinks it has gotten its man in the slaying of a young mother of two killed outside a convenience store she managed.

Dharmisthaben Patel, 33, was fatally shot as she and her husband were leaving the Devi’s location at 1400 Palmyra Road in November 2018.

On Wednesday, police announced that they had solved the case with the arrest of Bernardo Litic Thompson. Police have charged Thompson, 31, with murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and two counts of aggravated assault. He is being held in the Dougherty County Jail.

Patel was a passenger in the car with her husband on the night of Nov. 10, 2018 when a lone gunman approached the car in what police described as an attempted carjacking.

As Patel’s husband tried to drive away the gunman fired into the car. Patel was struck in the shoulder and later died of her wounds.

Video footage from the surveillance camera at the store shooting showed a black male, dressed in dark clothing with a hoodie and wearing a mask and gloves, walking into the convenience store parking lot. In the surveillance video, the suspect is seen attempting to open the driver’s door of the couple’s car and firing into it. Patel’s husband drove to the hospital from the scene of the shooting.