Slaying of 7-Eleven Clerk Sparks Call for Security : Crime: More than 200 mourn Nirmal Singh. He did everything right during the robbery, police say, but was shot anyway.

Hundreds of mourners paid last respects on Thursday to Nirmal Singh, a 7-Eleven clerk who was gunned down at a La Habra store by two robbers who got away with $40.

In their grief, relatives expressed anger at the Southland Corp., the Dallas-based parent company of 7-Eleven stores, and issued a list of demands for increased security, including guards, bulletproof windows and bulletproof vests for store employees.

“We also want 7-Eleven stores to close between the hours of midnight to 6 a.m.,” Singh’s brother-in-law Bhajan Bhinder said. “Those hours are when the most crime occurs. We are trying to get these changes now, in honor of Nirmal, so that others will not have to die for no reason.”

More than 200 people, many of them from Orange County’s Sikh community, attended the emotional two-hour funeral at the Memory Garden Memorial Park and Mortuary in Brea.

Seated in the front pew were Singh’s widow, Baljit Kaur, 34, and her three young sons. During the services, Kaur was so overcome with grief that she hardly spoke and sat with her face cradled in her hands.

Her eldest, Jaspal, 12, proudly wore a saffron-colored turban that symbolizes he is the man of the family now, and sat next to his younger brothers, Prabhjot, 7, and Bhavandeep, 5.

As the last prayer was chanted, Singh’s widow and the family headed a procession of mourners who accompanied the body to the mortuary’s crematory.

“I lost my son-in-law!” wailed Amolak Singh. “These stores should have bullet-proof enclosures for the clerks. They should have more security too.”

Bhinder also suggested that 7-Eleven store clerks have life insurance provided by the store’s owner, the Southland Corp., or both. In addition, he wanted Southland to help surviving widows with job training.

“Baljit now has to earn money for her three children,” Bhinder said. “She’s alone.”

On Thursday, Southland offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the two robbers.

“We’re trying to do anything we can to help police to spur public help,” said Steve Granados, division manager for the loss-prevention department of Southland Corp.

Nirmal Singh of Fullerton, who began working at the Imperial Highway store in La Habra earlier this month, had volunteered to work a night shift to impress his boss, relatives said. Midway through the shift, at about 3 a.m., two men entered the store.

One man pulled out a gun and shot Singh in the chest, Police Sgt. Phil Stufflebean said. The other jumped over the counter and took about $40 from the cash register as the gunman prepared his weapon to shoot again, Stufflebean said.

The accomplice allegedly shouted, “Shoot him again,” according to police.

Kevin Eliason, Southland’s loss-prevention manager, who attended Thursday’s service, said the corporation succeeded in making a number of security improvements in recent years.

“We understand the family is saying some things about our security,” Eliason said. “But look at the bank robbery in Pomona and what happened there. How far do we have to go?”

Under Southland’s unique franchise arrangement, most store owners provide labor and maintenance. The corporation provides everything else, including advertising, merchandise and security.

In the past two years, the corporation has yielded to owner complaints and has added more lighting, installed video monitors, and in-store “panic buttons” that automatically dial police.

“In this case,” Eliason said, “the store clerk did everything right. But as the police said, and I think really, that the anger should be directed at the two people who committed this crime.”

A memorial service for Singh will be Sept. 2 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Buena Park Sikh Temple, 8302 Whitaker Ave.

Police are asking anyone with information about the assailants to call (310) 905-9611.