Five years ago today, on Feb. 21, 2020, Edmonds suffered an incomprehensible tragedy with the slaying of Nagendiram Kandasamy, known affectionately as “Nagi” or “Mr. Nagi” to the local Highway 99 community. Mr. Nagi, a 64-year-old husband and father, was working in the early morning hours at the 7-Eleven when an assailant entered the store, jumped onto the counter, and shot him. To this day, his murder remains unsolved.

I often think of Mr. Nagi, Mr. Jassi and the other employees who worked at the 7-Eleven when I drive by their former location, at 238th Street Southwest and Highway 99, across the street from Safeway. Their friendly little neighborhood corner store was an institution in our area and much beloved by residents and shoppers in Southeast Edmonds. When I visited that 7-Eleven, whoever was behind the counter would never fail to ask about my elderly parents. Many of us who frequented their store counted the gentlemen who worked there as our friends, and their presence unfailingly brightened our days. Sadly, the former owners gave up the franchise and left Edmonds after the killing of Mr. Nagi.

Last week, I reached out to the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office for an update on Mr. Nagi’s case. I received the following from Michael Held, the Chief of Staff: “DPAs [Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys] with our Major Crimes Unit remain engaged with law enforcement and the investigation remains active and ongoing.”

There have been other tragedies in Edmonds’ portion of the Highway 99 corridor. I recall most vividly the shooting of Thanh Vy Ly at the Boo Han Market later that year, on Sept. 29, 2020; the firebombing of the Plum Tree Plaza on Sept. 11, 2021 and the tragic killing of Abdikadir Gedi Shariif on Jan. 3, 2024.

But for me personally, the killing of Mr. Nagi in 2020 was the beginning of a new era along Highway 99, when many of us who grew up near Lake Ballinger and consider the Highway 99 corridor to be home started to worry about the safety of our friends and family, given the rise of racially motivated violence during the pandemic. We are a visibly diverse part of Snohomish County, and violence seems to come to our part of town from elsewhere.

I was motivated to write this because I wanted to draw attention to the fact that Mr. Nagi’s murder remains unsolved, five years later. I call on our local law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys to continue to devote time, attention and resources toward solving the homicide of Mr. Nagi and to not allow his case to go cold. Mr. Nagi is still remembered and beloved along the Highway 99 corridor, and many of us still pray for justice for his family and our bereaved community. You will never be forgotten, Mr Nagi, and we will keep calling for justice until your case is solved.