Community mourns Cathedral City store owner shot and killed in armed robbery

A Cathedral City community is mourning the death of a convenience store owner who was shot and killed Sunday night during an armed robbery.

He's being identified as Chris Sgouromitis, a Cathedral City resident and longtime owner of Outpost Market on Ramon Road. Police said they were actively working leads, but the gunman is still on the run.

A memorial grew Monday for Sgouromitis outside his store as hundreds of people honored his life, laying flowers and candles in his memory.

"Really an amazing friend," said Nathan Madina. "Everything that he's done for me and for the community."

Madina said Sgouromitis was a caring figure in the city – part of the family owned business. He said he'll be sorely missed. "It hurts me; it really does hurt me because I seen him every day."

This isn't the first shooting involving Outpost Market. 26-year-old David Reyes was killed by gunfire in August 2017. Police said he was shot in his car in the parking lot just outside of the convenience store.

The owner of a nearby store said for another murder to take place there is devastating and harmful to the community.

"It's happened a couple times, around here – this is the problem," he said. "It's bad for Cathedral City for this to happen all the time."

"Chris was a good man and he is still a good man," said another friend. "In my heart, he's a good man."

Police declined to release surveillance video of a suspect or to provide a description of who they're looking for.