SHOPKEEPERS say the attack on Gurmail Singh proves how vulnerable traders are to attacks.
Dinesh Joshi, who runs Joshi newsagents on Swan Lane in Lockwood, said he knew the Cowcliffe man well from their regular visits to the same cash and carry.
He said: “I cried when I heard what had happened.”
Mr Joshi, 52, has been on the wrong end of a series of serious incidents, most recently in November when he was threatened at gunpoint by a masked raider.
He said: “The last 10 years, things have gone from bad to worse. Law and order is at its lowest.
“Whatever security you use, it doesn’t seem to matter and the police don’t seem to be able to touch them.
“There needs to be harsher punishments for people who get caught – not just a slap on the wrist.”
He said politicians needed to experience what it was like running a shop for themselves.
“I would challenge them to come and do this job,” he said.
“It’s frightening.”
The manager of two Nisa convenience stores, one in Fixby and one in Honley, said he wanted there to be better communication between shops and the police.
The man, who did not want to be named, said: “I’m in the process of drafting a proposal to try to find some way of shops being able to notify each other when a crime has been committed against another retailer.
“Sometimes it takes a while to find out.”
He said an online forum was one option.
