Esaias Alazar rigged up his disabled taxicab on a Friday night four years ago and chugged over to the Four Seasons convenience store in Northeast D.C. hoping to try his luck with the lottery. What he found was that his luck had run out.
He wasn’t keeping up on his car payments, so, two weeks earlier, Mengestab Ghebreginsae — his manager at the Five Star Cab Association — had gone to his apartment on the 1400 block of Somerset Place Northwest and pulled out the cab’s spark plugs and fuel line.
The 50-year old from Eritrea had been having trouble making his payments for months, Ghebreginsae told police.
Ghebreginsae called Alazar after his visit, and Alazar promised to pay up — a promise he would never fulfill.
Alazar still owed the cab company $320 on that night — March 4, 2005 — when he drove his 1997 Ford Crown Victoria to the store on South Dakota Avenue Northeast for a D.C. Lottery ticket.
A store surveillance camera recorded Alazar entering Four Seasons at 9:17 p.m., according to reports. He briefly spoke with someone outside the store before entering. Alazar approached the counter and bought a D.C. Lottery instant scratch game. He checked if the ticket was a winner and left the store.
The surveillance video at that point shows a white flash, then it ends.
Outside the store, Alazar was walking toward his parked taxicab when two men approached him, police said. Following a struggle, Alazar was shot in the chest. He died within 30 minutes at the Washington Hospital Center.
D.C. police are still searching for suspects in Alazar’s slaying.
