LOS ANGELES, Oct 20: Authorities are investigating the slaying of a Syrian-born liquor store owner found shot dead late on Wednesday night in Sylmar.

Police initially said 50-year-old Ramez Younan, a Christian Arab, was killed as part of an apparent robbery attempt at Chalet Liquor. However, it later emerged that no money appeared to have been taken.

“Right now, we don’t have any evidence that leads us to a motive,” detective Frank Bishop of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Station told newspapers.

There was no immediate comment from federal authorities on whether the slaying would be investigated as a possible hate crime. Relatives described Younan as friendly and tireless, working long hours to support his family, a man who would feed the homeless near his store.

“He was outgoing, always laughing and having a smile on his face,” Younan’s 19-year-old son, George, told the Daily News.

Roy Younan, 43, of Covina, said he did not know why anyone would kill his brother, who immigrated from Syria in December 1971. He declined to speculate on whether the killing might have been a hate crime precipitated by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.