“Am I going to see my children again?”; Owner recalls brazen robbery caught on surveillance

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — For Dawood Aldaylam, August 19, 2024, started as an ordinary day at his Good Brothers supermarket in northwest Baltimore.

However, on this day, Aldaylam would become the victim of an armed robbery.

The United States Marshals Service has now joined the search for one of two suspects wanted in connection with the case.

Byron Powell, 61, is wanted for armed robbery, according to federal officials.

“It was a slow day,” Aldaylam said. “There weren’t many people in the store and then two older guys came in.”

Surveillance footage shows both men waving at Aldaylam, who was standing behind the attached cash register. The men then start walking up and down the aisles.

Aldaylam said that when he finished checking out the other customers, the men asked for his help finding ice in the back freezer.

“I remember I only had one ice cream sandwich left in the freezer, so I thought they probably hadn’t seen it. I walked out from behind the counter and back to the freezer and took out the ice cream sandwich.”

But Aldaylam said he soon realized the men weren’t really there for ice cream.

“One guy pointed his gun at my face and the other guy put his gun to my back,” Aldaylam said. “They told me not to move. I raised my hands and told them, whatever you want to take, take.”

Aldaylam said the men first took the money he had in his pockets and the gun in his pants and then led him back to the cash register.

Surveillance video captured one suspect leading Aldaylam down the aisle, now armed with two guns, and the other suspect following with his gun still pressed against Aldaylam’s back.

Another camera’s vantage point captured the suspects then entering the locked register area with Aldaylam.

Aldaylam said it was then that he began to fear for his life.

“When it was just me and her in the closed room, I was nervous. I was scared. I asked myself: am I going to see my children again today, or not? At that moment I really thought this could be it. Any move I would have made, they might have shot me,” Aldaylam said.

Surveillance footage shows a suspect taking hundreds of dollars in cash from the register and taking cartons of cigarettes from the back shelves.

During the robbery, two more customers are seen on video entering the store and walking up to the counter, unaware of what just happened on the other side of the plexiglass.

“I think the customers scared them off a little bit,” Aldaylam said. “They started rushing and just ran out of the store.”

Aldaylam called the police.

According to charging documents, responding officers reviewed surveillance footage from cameras both inside and outside the store and used that footage along with MVA records to identify Powell as one of the suspects.

Court records show Powell’s criminal history dates back to the 1990s, with the majority of his arrests involving drugs.

Aldaylam said he did not know the suspect and did not recognize either man.

The owner and father expressed frustration over the crime.

“Sometimes I feel like I just want to close down and just leave. It’s really not worth it. It’s not worth it,” Aldaylam said.

Investigators have not yet revealed whether they have identified or apprehended the second suspect.

Anyone with information on Powell’s whereabouts is asked to contact the U.S. Marshals Service at 202-819-5058.