FAIRFIELD, OH — A suburban Cincinnati jewelry store owner was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon inside his business, and police are investigating the death as a robbery-homicide. Officers responded to reports of gunfire at Everest Jewels in Fairfield, Ohio, just before 1 p.m. and found the owner, Tara Sinchuri, dead inside.

The store’s front window was shattered when police arrived, according to local reporting. Fairfield police did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but investigators have been treating the case as a violent robbery. The killing has drawn attention not only because of the location, but because it adds to a troubling run of deaths in the jewelry trade this year.

Police respond to gunfire and find the owner dead inside

Authorities were called to Everest Jewels after reports of shots fired at the shop on Tuesday afternoon. Fairfield is a suburban town about 30 miles north of Cincinnati, and the store sits in a commercial area that would normally be open during business hours. When officers arrived, they found Sinchuri inside the business and confirmed he had died from the shooting.

The broken front window suggested the attack involved more than a simple shooting, and investigators quickly began focusing on whether the killing happened during a robbery. Police have not publicly released additional details about suspects or a motive. Detectives were still piecing together what happened in the moments before the gunfire and what may have led the shooter to the store.

Investigators look for surveillance video and a getaway car

WLWT5 reported that detectives asked nearby business owners to share surveillance footage that might show a car leaving the area after the shooting. That kind of video can be crucial in fast-moving robbery cases, especially when investigators need to identify a suspect vehicle and trace its path away from the scene.

No arrest had been reported as of Wednesday, and police had not said whether they had identified a person of interest. The request for surveillance video suggests investigators were trying to build a timeline from nearby cameras and compare what those cameras captured with witness statements and physical evidence from the store. For now, the search for answers remains active.

Sinchuri was a father of three with roots in Nepal

Sinchuri was 52 years old and the father of three, according to WLWT5. He had immigrated to the United States from Nepal, and his family was marking the first day of a Nepalese Hindu festival on Tuesday when he was killed. The timing made the death especially painful for those who knew him and for members of the local Nepalese and Hindu communities.

The Hindu Biswakarma Community USA, based in Etna, Ohio, posted a message on Facebook expressing shock and sadness over his death. The group extended condolences to his family and asked for peace for the deceased. Community reaction has underscored that Sinchuri was more than a business owner; he was also a family man and a part of a wider immigrant community in Ohio.

A killing that deepens concern in the jewelry business

Scott Guginsky, executive vice president of the Jewelers’ Security Alliance, said Sinchuri is the third member of the jewelry industry to be killed on the job this year. That figure reflects a violent stretch for an industry that often handles high-value merchandise and has long worried about robbery risks.

Two other industry homicides were reported on April 28. One was the shooting death of 35-year-old Lazaro Rodriguez Vega at a pawn shop in Fort Pierce, Florida, where she worked as a manager. The other was the death of 71-year-old Harjinder Singh, an employee of Chinna Jewellers Inc. in Sacramento, California, who died from injuries after a crash-and-grab robbery.

Crash-and-grab tactics remain a threat to jewelry stores

Security experts say crash-and-grab robberies usually involve large groups who use a vehicle to smash into a storefront and then rush inside to steal merchandise. The method is especially dangerous because it can create chaos almost immediately and leave little time for employees or customers to react.

Sinchuri’s death came in the same year the industry had already recorded two homicides before Tuesday’s killing, according to the Jewelers’ Security Alliance. That makes the Fairfield case part of a broader pattern of violence affecting jewelers, pawn shops, and other retailers that handle expensive inventory. Investigators have not said whether the Fairfield shooting followed the same tactic, but the shattered window and robbery-homicide label indicate why police are treating the case with urgency.