Taleb Rebhi Ali Jawher

A Missouri gas clerk has been charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed a customer he suspected of stealing a $1.10 bag of candy, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The clerk, 39-year-old Taleb Rebhi Ali Jawher, was charged Wednesday in the late September incident.

He and Christopher Simmons, 34, had gotten into a dispute inside a Phillips 66 station in Ferguson, police said.

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Simmons left, and Jawher followed. The men argued outside, and then Jawher shot Simmons, police added.

Jawher suspected Simmons had stolen a bag of candy. But Simmons “did not steal or leave the store with candy” before being shot in the back of the head, charging documents say according to the Post-Dispatch.

Simmons’ mother, Dorothy Simmons, told the Post-Dispatch that the family is “trying to find some peace.”

Her son, she added, was a “wonderful young man who was taken from us too soon.”

Jawher’s bond was set at $1 million.

Max Londberg: 816-234-4378, @MaxLondberg

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 9:48 AM.