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A memorial has taken shape outside a business tied to Abdullah Shah, the Edmonton landlord and convicted fraudster shot to death outside his home last month.
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Along an exterior window of All Home Solutions, 9331 111 Ave., a well-wisher placed more than a dozen artificial flowers sandwiched between strips of particle board.
Some had written messages commemorating the late landlord, known to many as Carmen Pervez.
“Carmen,” one wrote. “You changed ALL our lives & made me realize ‘life IS worth it.’”
“Who will help the needy ‘now?’” asked another in red and black permanent marker.
Shah, 59, was shot to death on March 13, outside his home in south Edmonton’s Haddow neighborhood. Security video released by police showed a medium gray SUV boxing in Shah as he pulled his truck into the driveway.
An unknown number of shots riddled the truck as well as Shah’s home, with his family inside.
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Homicide detectives later appealed to the public for tips about the suspect vehicle.
Shah was part of a group that owned a large number of residential properties, mostly in central Edmonton, though he recently professed to have sold off much of his portfolio.
At the time of his death, Shah was facing trial on fentanyl trafficking charges and had recently served house arrest after ordering an unsuccessful hit on a man in the Edmonton Remand Centre.
In 2008, Shah was convicted in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme and sentenced to five years in prison.
More recently, Shah was the subject of sensational allegations made by a since-suspended Edmonton Police Service detective, who claimed his superiors were insulating Shah from prosecution.
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The building where the memorial was placed was among those raided in 2019 by police and Canada Revenue Agency investigators, though no charges were ever laid.
Several of Shah’s associates later sued police after they were identified as persons of interest in the investigation.
In August 2021, Shah survived being shot in the head at one of his 111 Avenue businesses. A few months later, on Oct. 21, 2021, he was spotted in the doorway of All Home Solutions as police investigated a weapons complaint. A building two doors to the east appeared to have been hit by gunfire.
Some saw Shah differently. After Shah’s death, lawyer Erika Norheim said her client de ella housed and employed people who were otherwise treated as the “outcasts of society.”
“He really did have a lot of kindness (for) people that a lot of people were unkind to.”
TO 2019 news release described Shah as a “dedicated advocate” for housing reform.
“Many of the residents who reside in ‘Shah’s rental units’ are struggling with various issues,” the release said.
“Some are battling mental illnesses, some have been abandoned, some have been victims of drug and alcohol abuse and some simply made a few bad life decisions that have resulted in cyclical consequences.”
Norheim said the person who placed the memorial did not wish to be interviewed.
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