The daughter of a Birmingham shopkeeper killed during a suspected robbery watched the attack unfold on the store’s CCTV system as she sat in the family flat above the shop, a local businessman revealed.

The 48-year-old victim, not yet named, was found with stab wounds at Select Convenience Store in Kingstanding, on Saturday night. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

West Midlands Police arrested a man and a woman, both in their 20s, on suspicion of his murder on Sunday.

Abid Hussain, owner of a takeaway store on the same street as the corner shop, said the victim was a father-of-three, originally from India, who “always had a smile on his face”.

Mr Hussain, who runs Dixy Chicken, said: “He was a very sensitive man, a family man. He had three children, two sons and a daughter, and a wife and they all helped out in the shop. I don’t know his name but I would see him every day and saw him in the shop yesterday, in the afternoon.

“There was always a smile on his face and he really looked after his customers.”

The businessman added: “I spoke to a relative of his wife outside the shop this morning and he told me the daughter was watching the CCTV upstairs and she saw it all happening.

“I heard she was the one who called police. I can’t imagine how she must feel, and his sons.”

Mr Hussain said he believed the man’s daughter was around 15 years old.

A police spokeswoman said four men were seen running from the shop, on College Road, in the direction of Dovedale road, following the stabbing.

She said: “At this stage the motive for the attack seems to be a robbery.”

Mr Hussain said: “A police officer told me he was stabbed three times and he was dead on the spot.

“I think the people came for money or cigarettes and alcohol.

“Just because of a few packets of cigarettes and maybe a few quid, somebody has taken his life, it is unbelievable.

“I can’t believe that person I bought a bottle of milk from in the afternoon is no longer in the world.

“This is society now, it can happen anywhere. I have told my staff, if it happens here they should open the tills and let them have anything they want.”

Officers were called to the shop, also known as Haresh’s Superstore, at 9.50pm.

Police said a post-mortem examination would be carried out in “due course”, adding that officers would be carrying out extra patrols in the area throughout the day “to reassure the local community”.

Anyone with information is asked to contact West Midlands Police CID at Harborne on 0345 113 5000 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.