Video Store Owner Is Mourned

Before Sonia Nassir was stabbed to death in a brazen, broad-daylight assault at a Northridge video store, she had been planning to surprise her husband with long-awaited news.

She was pregnant.

But instead of hearing about it in an intimate family setting, Zalmay Nassir was told by his wife’s best friend the day after she died. Her body was discovered Saturday by a customer at the couple’s store, Video Super Shop on Parthenia Street.

“We wanted a baby real bad,” said Zalmay Nassir, 37, as he sat in their Northridge home surrounded by shocked and grieving friends and family members.

The couple had planned to spend Saturday evening at a relative’s home in Culver City for a belated birthday celebration for their 16-year-old daughter, Zuan.

Zalmay called his wife shortly after 2 p.m. with questions about the night’s activities, but got a constant busy signal on both of the store’s phone lines. He finally decided to drive by the store, about 3 miles from their home, and found the area swarming with police cars.

The officers would not let him near the building, he said.

“They just told me that there was a woman dead in there. They wouldn’t even say who it was. But I knew it was my wife.”

Police said they believe Sonia Nassir, 36, was killed during a robbery between noon and 1:30 p.m., but they gave few details.

Only $20 was missing from the cash register, Zalmay Nassir said.

On Sunday afternoon, an impromptu memorial of flowers, letters of condolence and votive candles had been created in front of the closed store.

“It’s so senseless,” said Rhonda Zehr, who came by with her husband and 3-year-old son. Zehr said she visited the store weekly to rent children’s videos and chat with Sonia Nassir. “She was such a beautiful person. If they just wanted to steal something, why’d they have to kill her?”

Another woman gasped as she approached the scene.

“It was Sonia? Was it true?” asked Chris Galiano, who described herself as the victim’s best friend.

The two women met eight years ago as employees at a Woodland Hills video store, she said.

“She was a very friendly, talkative person. Everyone loved her,” said Galiano, who added that Sonia Nassir had been planning a special event to inform her family of her pregnancy.

Zalmay and Sonia Nassir met at Winchell’s Donut House in Canoga Park 17 years ago, where he was a manager and she an employee, Zalmay said. They were from disparate cultures and religions--he is a Muslim Afghan, she was a Catholic Honduran--but they fell in love at first sight.

Their daughter, Zuan, said her mother was a “cool” mom, with whom she could freely discuss boys, high school and the problems of adolescence.

“We always made each other laugh,” Zuan said.

On Friday and Saturday nights, they would tend the video store together, keeping each other company, Zuan said. On weekend days, they would go to the movies to catch a romantic comedy--her mom’s favorites--or go shopping at the mall or out for lunch.

“She told me every day how much she loved me, that I was her whole world--her life,” Zuan said.

“When I heard yesterday what happened, I felt like I was faking the tears--it just didn’t seem real. It still doesn’t.”

The family has asked that contributions toward Sonia Nassir’s funeral expenses be sent to: Video Super Shop, 19643 Parthenia St., Northridge, CA 91324.