A Lynn man who was arrested for the shooting of a Roxbury store clerk has had the charges upgraded to murder, because the victim has died.
Convenience store clerk Tanjim Siam was shot during an armed robbery on July 14. Stephon Samuels, 25, of Lynn, was arrested and charged with the shooting.
Samuels was arraigned during a court proceeding conducted virtually Monday in the Roxbury Division of the Boston Municipal Court on charges of murder, armed robbery with a firearm, armed assault to murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition.
He was also charged as a Level 1 Armed Career Criminal, based on a 2016 conviction for a drug distribution offense. At the request of Second Assistant District Attorney Masai King, Judge Kenneth Fiandaca ordered Samuel held without bail while the case is pending.
Siam, 24, was working as a clerk at M&R Convenience Store on Shawmut Avenue in Roxbury shortly after 9 p.m. on July 14. Samuels allegedly entered the store and pretended to be interested in making a purchase, but instead produced a firearm and robbed the store, Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins said.
Despite the fact that the victim turned over the contents of the cash register and other items, Samuel allegedly forced Siam into another area of the store at gunpoint and shot him at close range. Samuel then fled the store. The armed robbery and shooting were captured by the store’s video surveillance system. Siam died last Saturday.
According to prosecutors, fingerprints at the scene of the shooting were determined to be Samuel’s.
He was arrested following an attempted armed robbery that occurred July 22 in Brockton. The firearm allegedly used in that incident was matched to ballistics evidence located where Siam was shot, prosecutors said.