Halifax convenience store owner ‘shocked’ when customer allegedly confesses in man’s death

The owner of a downtown Halifax convenience store says he was “shocked” when a man walked into his store Tuesday afternoon, allegedly confessing to a killing.

Mostafa Khallaf, the owner and manager of Nova Grocery on Clyde Street, says the man is a regular customer who would usually stop by every day.

“He came in that day at like 3 p.m. or 3:10 p.m. and I was on the phone speaking with my family. He came in and he just said, ‘Can you call the police? I just killed a man,'” says Khallaf, who at first thought there must have been a misunderstanding as the man was “very calm.” “He wasn’t nervous, he was calm, that’s what shocked me.”

“I asked him for the third time, ‘Are you sure this is what happened?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah.’ So I called the police right away,” Khallaf says.

“I came around the corner and I noticed there was blood on his left hand dripping on the floor, so I knew it was serious.”

Khallaf says he asked the man to step outside and stay there, but after serving another customer, Khallaf says he went outside but the man was gone.

A couple of minutes later, Khallaf says police arrived and he walked them to the man’s apartment at 5578 Morris St.

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That’s where police say at approximately 3:10 p.m. officers responded to a weapons call, and inside, police say they found two injured men.

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Both men were transported to hospital.

One, a 61-year-old man, later died of his injuries. The second, a 71-year-old man, suffered serious injuries.

Police have now identified the 61-year-old as Donald Scott McKay of Halifax.

An autopsy conducted by the province’s medical examiner service has ruled McKay’s death a homicide.

Police say they are not looking for a suspect as part of their investigation and that the homicide was not a random incident.

Khallaf says the whole situation has him “stressed.”

“For the rest of the night I couldn’t even work and I had to close the shop,” he says. “It was a very stressful night.”

“I’m doing a little bit better, it’s the second day now. The third day, still there is some stress, but I feel much better.”

Anyone with more information on the incident is urged to call police at 902-490-5016 or to contact Crime Stoppers.