Reporter Profiled Business Owner Hours Before Shooting

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A reporter says he spent two hours with Reuven Rahamim Thursday, just hours before Rahamim was shot and killed inside his business.

Todd Nelson is a frequent contributor to the Star Tribune, and he was profiling Accent Signage Systems for a continuing series on small business and entrepreneurs.

He said he left the business about four hours before the shooting.

"It's hard not to think about the timing of that," Nelson told WCCO's Chad Hartman Friday. "But I'm still sitting here, and I'm able to put all of that into perspective. Certainly I minimize that compared to what the employees have been through, and my thoughts and prayers are with the families."

Nelson said he was intending to do a success-story piece on Rahamim and his business.

"It was going to be about Mr. Rahamim as an immigrant who had built a very innovative company," Nelson said. "He was proud of what he had built, and about the future."

When asked to describe what the inside of the business was like to add some perspective on the shootings, Nelson said it was chilling to recall the production areas in the lower levels.

"It felt like there really wasn't any way out, if that's where things were happening," Nelson said. "It was kind of chilling to think about being in place you can't get out of in those circumstances."

Rahamim's funeral is scheduled for Sunday at Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park.