DENVER – The man accused of stabbing to death the owner of the Denver 7-Eleven store at which he worked in late November was charged Tuesday with one count of first-degree murder.
Bereket Cholo, 35, is accused of stabbing 43-year-old Tamerat Abebe, the store’s owner, to death on Nov. 27 during a dispute. Cholo was a manager at the store near the intersection of E. Colfax Ave. and Syracuse Street.
First responders and police found Abebe bleeding severely from several stab wounds to his neck and head that morning after witnesses called police when they saw the altercation between Cholo and Abebe, according to police documents.
Abebe died after he was transported to Denver Health Medical Center. Cholo was arrested later that day at a home in Aurora.
A witness told police that Cholo and Abebe had been talking about money and that she heard Cholo saying that some amount of money had been taken from him, the police documents stated. He was yelling and screaming, the witness said, while Abebe was calm. But all of a sudden, the witness said, she noticed Abebe was bleeding from the neck and then saw Cholo stab him again.
Surveillance video footage from inside the store showed a man who appeared to be Cholo stab Abebe in the neck with “what appears to be a very large hunting type knife.”
Cholo is next due in court Thursday morning for his first advisement.