Gitem Demissie's Murder Goes Cold

NASHVILLE, TN -- Shortly after 12:30 a.m. March 19, 2017, a man in a light-colored hoodie walked briskly into Ibex Ethiopian Bar And Restaurant on Murfreesboro Road.

It was almost closing time and only two other men were inside - one man at the bar and Ibex's owner, Gitem Demissie, standing behind it. Surveillance shows the man in the hoodie raise his gun and fire multiple times at Demissie as the customer dives for the floor. The shooter than walks towards a door at the back of the bar while pointing - but not shooting - at the patron. He turns, fires more shots at Demissie and leaves.

Demissie was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center but was dead on arrival. He had been shot 10 times. Because of the gunman's calculated manner and that he didn't attack the second man, detectives quickly determined Demissie's murder was "targeted."

Now, one year later, there have been no arrests; the case is officially cold.

Demissie, 41, came to the United States from Ethiopia in 2004. He worked two full-time jobs, plus took part-time work at an Ethiopian market. In 2008, the owner of that market - Ibex Mart - decided to sell and Demissie bought it. In 2015, he opened the restaurant.

His brother, Zelalem Amare, told the Nashville Scene his brother worked hard, supporting him after he too came to the US and went to college at Tennessee State.

"He was not only like my brother, he was like my father," Amare told the Scene. "Losing someone like that is unbearable."

Police have interviewed more than 100 people and reviewed surveillance footage from the weeks before the killing. There was some footage of Demissie arguing with another man, but still no arrests have been made. Detective Derry Baltimore told WKRN after the killing "I can’t find anyone who can definitively say anything bad about the victim."

Leaders in Nashville's Ethiopian community echoed the sentiment to the Scene.

“He was well-known by almost everybody, because of his business. Everybody knows him, including children. It was something that nobody expected to happen and that has really affected not only the church members and the Ethiopian community, but also the children who knew him. Because what does that mean? Are we safe?” Father Mesfin Tesemma, the priest at Hamerenohe Kidanemihiret Ethiopian Orthodox Church, told the Scene.

On Sunday, the church held a memorial service for Demissie and again Amare urged anyone with information to come forward.

"I still say for the people out there, if they know anything, it could be a little, but it will be much to me and the police. I still beg them to come forward," Amare told NewsChannel 5.

The man at the bar offered a limited description of the shooter - 5-feet-7-inches and "light skinned" though the gunman's race could not be determined.

Demissie's brother, business partner and Ethiopian community leaders all say the police have been working hard to find the man who killed Demissie, but there's precious little to go on.

“Just thinking about him, it’s not only that he died, but not knowing who did this at this point,” Amare told the Scene. “I’m scared for my life too, because I don’t know who’s my enemy or who’s my friend at this point. If you can’t tell who did this, then I can’t tell. I could be eating with my enemy, you know? Because I don’t know who did this at this point. That’s like a second death for me.”

Anyone with information that could help police has been asked to call Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.

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