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WARREN -- The owner of the Convenient Food Mart on Elm Road has withdrawn his objection to the removal of the store's liquor license.
Warren officials sought removal of the license after a fatal Aug. 3, 2025, shooting at the store and other issues. Attorney Thomas Nader of Warren filed a notice with the Ohio Liquor Control Commission in Columbus Sept. 14 asking for the appeal to be withdrawn. He filed the notice on behalf of Ammar Fawzi Inc., its president Mark Shafar and the business at 1409 Elm Road NE.
Earlier this year, the company appealed the loss of its liquor license.
The appeal acknowledged "certain operational challenges at the permit premises and deeply regrets the tragic events of Aug. 3, 2025." But it argued that the outright denial of permit renewal "is a disproportionate sanction that fails to account for the extraordinary circumstances facing (Shafar') business, Mr. Shafar's decades of service to his community and the comprehensive remedial measures already undertaken."
The appeal stated that Shafar was granted a D-5 liquor permit Dec. 18, 2015 and "for nearly a decade, Mr. Mark Shafar has operated his business professionally and without significant incident." But, "Beginning around 2023 to 2024, the permit premises and surrounding area have experienced a significant increase in crime and disorder."
It stated that the store "became an unintended gathering place for after-hours crowds" It stated that as Warren police testified at an April 2026 hearing, "employees called police on multiple occasions to assist with these after-hours crowds." It stated that the gatherings "escalated tragically on Aug. 3, 2025 when a dispute outside the premises erupted in gunfire, resulting in one fatality."
Killed was David Lee Owens III, who was 31. Another man was injured, according to Tribune Chronicle files.
Warren City Council voted unanimously Aug. 18, 2025, to object to the renewal of the store's liquor license, citing ongoing issues with late-night disturbances and violence that council members said "plagued the neighborhood."
The appeal stated that after the incident, the city of Warren obtained a temporary restraining order closing the business Aug. 7, 2025, and lasting about six months. During that time, Shafar "engaged in extensive settlement negotiations with the city" and arranged for IKJOT LLC to assume operational control of the business in February 2026.
Shafar acknowledged in the appeal that he failed to notify the Ohio Division of Liquor Control of the extended closure and failed to file the appropriate documentation regarding the operational transition to IKJOT. "These failures occurred during an extraordinarily stressful period when Mark Shafar was defending against a nuisance lawsuit, facing the loss of his business and livelihood," the appeal stated.
It noted that when the Division of Liquor Control denied renewal of the store's liquor license, it relied heavily on "after hours activity, disturbances," and the Aug. 3, 2025, homicide. "However, the record demonstrates that these problems stemmed primarily from location-specific crime challenges that overwhelmed the permit holder's reasonable capacity to control, rather than from willful disregard for liquor laws and regulations."
The filing states that Shafar has operated convenience stores for over 30 years, and he did so "without significant incident until relatively recently. The problems cited by the Division of Liquor Control emerged only in the past two to three years, coinciding with increased criminal activity in the surrounding area."
CITY TO BLAME
The filing continued, "The permit premises did not create these problems; rather, it became a victim of broader community crime issues. The location's parking lot became a gathering point for individuals engaged in illegal gambling, carrying weapons and creating disturbances -- activities that occurred outside the premises and beyond the permit holder's direct control." It added that the store's employees were "overwhelmed by dangerous circumstances. The record demonstrates that employees called the police on multiple occasions since 2024, supporting the fact that they sought law enforcement assistance when unable to manage the situation themselves. Employees were fearful of violence if they confronted individuals gathering in the parking lot. The situation that developed on Aug. 3. 2025, began as friends gathering outside the store and escalated into tragedy behind the employees' ability to prevent."
After the August 2025 killing, Shafar concluded that he needed to transfer day-to-day operations to IKJO LLC to better "maintain appropriate control and order at the premises." Shafar agreed to restrict alcohol sales to those allowed under a C-1 and C-2 permit, "which is a substantial reduction fro the broader D-5 permit privileges," the filing states.
The Division of Liquor Control stated in its May 15, 2026, denial of the store's liquor license renewal that it considered the store's renewal request, the Warren City Council objection to the renewal and the results of an April 8, 2026, hearing. An investigation also was carried out.
The renewal was rejected, it stated, because the store is "so located with respect to the neighborhood that substantial interference with public decency, sobriety, peace or good order would result from renewal of the permit." It added that the store's owner "has shown a disregard for the laws, regulations or local ordinances of the state and will continue to operate the permit business in a manner that demonstrates a disregard for the laws, regulations or local ordinances of the state."
The decision noted that Shafar also assigned the liquor permit to IKJOT "without written consent of the Division of Liquor Control," and "closed the premises in excess of 30 days without notifying the Division and/or requesting closing authority." Shafar is the president and sole shareholder of the company, the ruling stated.
At the April 8, 2026, Division of Liquor Control hearing, then-Warren police Chief Eric Merkel testified that the store had "become a known after-hours hotspot with police receiving a variety of calls for service to the premises after 2:30 a.m., including multiple calls for shots fired, disturbances and intoxicated persons. Although the city repeatedly met with the business in an attempt to rectify the problems, these meetings only resulted in a temporary ebb in the problematic behavior," the ruling states.
"According to ... Merkel's testimony, Fawzi employees treated the establishment like a residence, allowing patrons to do 'whatever they wanted.' This included but is not limited to allowing patrons to take their drinks into the parking area, where many of the calls for service seemed to originate. (Merkel) cited an incident from Dec. 15, 2024, as an example. On that date, an underage employee (18) was found not only to be serving liquor to patrons but also allowing those patrons to remove the open alcoholic beverages from the permit premises," the ruling states.
EARLIER STORE SANCTIONS
"Fawzi was issued multiple citations by the Ohio Investigative Unit (Department of Public Safety) and was ultimately fined by the Liquor Control Commission," the ruling states. It led to a "short reprieve" of violations that "resumed at the premises and came to a boiling point on Aug. 3, 2025," when a large group of people gathered inside the business and outside. A dice game was being played on the sidewalk at 5:20 a.m. with observers placing bets when a verbal altercation began. That led to a physical altercation and more than 40 rounds of gunfire and two people struck, one fatally, the ruling states. At least four weapons were involved. Three men were charged federally.
Video surveillance showed large crowds, individuals "waving guns" inside of the store and an employee selling alcohol in at least five different transactions between 4:33 a.m. and 5:09 a.m., the ruling states. A Warren police lieutenant testified at the April hearing that the police department had started to regularly show up at the business without being called there and that starting in 2024, the parking lot and store were "consistently full after 2:30 a.m., with cars overflowing out of the lot blocking roadways."
Officers would "clear everyone out" and afterwards find plastic cups "all around the parking lot, which he believed to be indicative of after-hours consumption." He said store employees were frequently uncooperative with police. One time, employees "attempted to stop police from entering the premises and came outside yelling at police to 'leave the parking lot.'"
Fawzi was not named in the nuisance complaint filed in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court after the August 2025 shootings, the ruling notes.
But documents filed in the case and provided at the Division of Liquor Control hearing noted 54 calls for service to police were made regarding the store from January 2024 until April of 2026, including 26 from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m., the ruling stated.
A settlement agreement with the store was proposed in January 2026, but it was not acceptable because it was with IKJOT, which is not the liquor-permit holder, the ruling notes. The city later dismissed the nuisance complaint against the business.
CONVICTIONS
In June, Savion C. Woodall, 24, of Warren, was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison for shooting Owens to death and for the nonfatal shooting of a second man at the store.
Woodall pleaded guilty to murder in Owens' death and attempted murder in the shooting of the other man. He also was convicted of possession of a firearm in a liquor permit premises, tampering with evidence and carrying a concealed weapon.
Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Becker said at the sentencing hearing that store surveillance showed Woodall inside the Convenient Food Mart "holding what was later determined to be a 45-caliber handgun. Eventually he was outside of the store, and he punched an individual while they were playing dice.
"A fight immediately ensued. (Woodall) got up and shot and killed David Lee Owens III. He also shot" the other victim, Becker said.
Three other men fired guns after Woodall had shot the two victims and was fleeing the scene, Becker said.
In May, one of the men, Jumal Ellis Rowe, 32, of Warren, was sentenced to 92 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, according to federal prosecutors. Also convicted federally were Sean King, 37, and Rayjon Ray McElroy, 25.
King received a sentence of 86 months in prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition. McElroy was sentenced to 25 months in prison after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition by a prohibited person.