[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 124 (Friday, September 21, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  RECOGNITION OF MR. ADEL KARAS' DEATH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HILDA L. SOLIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 21, 2001

  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge one of my 
constituents who was lost to us this past weekend in a tragic shooting.
  Mr. Adel Karas, a resident of Arcadia, was shot in his grocery store 
in San Gabriel on September 15, 2001 in an attempted robbery that the 
FBI is now investigating as a hate crime. Mr. Karas had owned and 
operated the International Market in San Gabriel for two decades. As a 
Coptic Christian, Mr. Karas fled his native Egypt in the 1970's to 
escape religious persecution. It is difficult to think that despite 
living in the United States for 20 years, he may have lost his life 
because the perpetrators targeted him based on his race.
  We will remember him as a warm and loving man who gave his best to 
his family and to his community. His family mourns his death and 
remembers him as a loving father to his sons and a good husband to his 
wife, Ronda Karas. Mr. Karas was also a care giver to his elderly 
parents, calling every day to check on their well-being. Furthermore, 
Mr. Karas was a respected businessman and appreciated by friends and 
neighbors. Our community mourns the loss of one of our own as is 
evident by the memorial filled with heart-felt cards and hundreds of 
flowers that has been created outside his storefront.
  I am saddened by the loss of such a fine member of our community and 
wish his family and loved ones my greatest sympathies by acknowledging 
him today. Let us remember Adel Karas as a genuine, kind, and loving 
son, father, husband, and American.

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