Vinod Taneja, 56, was shot and killed at his store, just two hours before his wife's flight was schedule to arrive at Jackson International Airport, on December 20, The Clarion-Ledger, a Mississippi newspaper, reported.
No one has been arrested, and a motive has not been established in Taneja's death, said Jackson police spokesman Robert Graham.
A man wearing a "Scream" mask and dark clothes came in the store and shot Taneja, Graham said. The mask and a piece of clothing were found in trash near the store, police said.
Taneja was to be reunited with his wife after years of being apart. He had come alone to the US from the couple's home in northern India to make a life for them. He opened Highway 80 Mini Mart in south Jackson a few months ago and was the store's only employee, the report said.
"He wanted to make a home here," Hitesh Desai of the India Association of Mississippi was quoted by the paper as saying.
Word of Taneja's death had spread through the city's Indian community and members expressed concern for his wife and family. "We are real, real worried about that," said Rajiv Kaura, owner of Raju Food Mart on Terry Road.
Others in the Indian community said city officials haven't done enough to protect Indian-owned businesses.
"Taneja's death is proof. An innocent life has been taken away. It's just ridiculous," Desai said.
