Owner of Taz’s sentenced in stabbing death of man at Raleigh convenience store
Taiseer “Taz” Zarka will serve five to seven years in prison for stabbing a customer in his downtown store in their scuffle over a stolen bottle of Gatorade, finishing a trial that repeatedly brought a courtroom to tears.
The 62-year-old downtown shopkeeper appeared in an orange jail jumpsuit Thursday and addressed the family of Mark Thomas Garrity Jr., his victim, stopping short of an apology.
”I am not a monster,” he said. “I was never been, never will be. ... I made mistakes. He made mistakes. What did we end up with? Everyone is sad. Everyone is mad. Everyone is in pain.”
But a clearly emotional Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory handed down the maximum sentence, 64 to 89 months, rejecting pleas from Zarka’s lawyer, family and friends who stressed the shopkeeper’s generosity.
”If that’s who he is,” Gregory said, “why wasn’t he that person on April 6, 2023? If that’s who he is, why not just give Mark the Gatorade?”
Addressing Zarka directly, the judge said, “I never called you a monster. ... But you killed Mark.”
Throughout Thursday’s sentencing, Garrity’s friends and family wore T-shirts that read “#justiceformark” and showed his picture on the back, smiling.
They spoke of his longtime struggles with drug addiction — Garrity had Fentanyl and cocaine in his system at the time of his death — but emphasized his character beyond that illness. Garrity was scheduled to enter treatment at Healing Transitions two days after his death, said his mother, Amy.
Through sobs, she listed 27 things about her son: He loved Christmas, he loved his younger brothers, he loved Jesus, he loved boxing, he loved Star Wars, he loved chocolate chip cookies, he loved Nike Air Force Ones, he loved their pug Tinkerbell ...
“I know who Mark was,” she said. “He was not a drug addict. ... He was not a thief. He was my son. Mark Thomas Garrity Jr. was a human being, wrongly accused, murdered in broad daylight.”
Garrity’s girlfriend Shauna Moran called him “the love of her life,” and losing him both threatened her own sobriety and made her think she would never be able to marry and raise a family, both wishes of Garrity’s.
“Mark had struggles in life, like many of us do, myself included,” she said. “But he didn’t deserve to die.”
The judge looked her in the eye from his bench.
“Can you do me a favor?” he asked. “Do not give up on your sobriety. Do not.”
Taz’s owner convicted of manslaughter
Jurors convicted Zarka of voluntary manslaughter Wednesday after a weeklong trial.
The case stems from April 2023, when Garrity walked into Taz’s Market downtown and Zarka grabbed his bag, believing he had stolen a $3.39 bottle of blue Gatorade.
The two struggled until the stabbing, a fight Zarka testified made him fear for his life and prosecutors described as a violent overreaction to a minor crime in which the shopkeeper repeatedly pointed a knife at his customer’s face.
Jurors faced three choices in the case: second-degree murder, not guilty or the middle-ground charge of voluntary manslaughter, meaning Zarka killed Garrity, but not with malice.
The jury on Wednesday also had to decide on an “aggravating factor” of whether Zarka killed Garrity knowing a minor was watching in the store, which might have added years to the sentence. But jurors deadlocked 8-4 on that issue, so Gregory declared a mistrial on the “aggravating” portion alone.
Shirt off his back
After Garrity’s family and friends finished their testimony, the talk turned to Zarka and his decades in business downtown. Both on Thursday and throughout the trial, witnesses have described his tendency to give food and drinks away for free.
They noted that Zarka, born in Palestine, still supports family who are refugees in Kuwait. In addition to that, he has multiple children to care for in Raleigh, including an 8-year-old daughter.
“He’s very caring,” said his nephew Ahmad Abuzarqa. “The way he helps the needy, someone can’t afford a simple drink from the store, he’ll put money in their pocket.”
His lawyer Karl Knudsen reminded the court that Zarka is 62 and suffering from bladder and prostate cancer. And in his argument for a lighter sentence, he said there would have been no physical violence if Garrity had opened his bag in the store as Zarka asked.
“My understanding of the English language,” he said, “is a person who steals property from other people is generally considered to be a thief.”
‘No, no, no’
The judge, though, resisted this.
He noted that Garrity carried ice cream from Taz’s cooler in his hand as he approached the cash register, though the Gatorade was in his bag. This might have shown his intent to pay for the merchandise, or at least some of it, before Zarka confronted him.
Zarka might have let the Gatorade go, he said, or he might have stayed behind the counter and called police, or he might have told Garrity never to return to the store.
“It would have been a different story if Mark had walked in there with a gun and said, ‘Give me all the Gatorade,’“ Gregory said. “Did he deserve to die for that? No, no, no. I’m a judge. I’m a father also. His addiction didn’t kill him. Mr. Zarka did.”
As part of his sentence, Zarka must take anger management courses and perform community service. He will receive treatment for his cancer while in prison.
This story was originally published December 19, 2024 at 11:52 AM.