This is another story in a series about cold cases in the city of LynnLYNN – On Jan. 17, 1991, Celso Pirir, a 23-year-old Guatemalan store clerk who moved to Lynn with the hope of bettering his life, was shot point-blank by a robber who has managed to remain on the run for more than 20 years.It was approximately 10:40 p.m. on a Thursday night when police were notified of a robbery at the Richdale Store, located at 114 Washington St., which is now Showcase Laundromat.Upon arrival, officers found one of the store’s two clerks, Pirir, suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest, unable to divulge any information about his killer, Lynn Captain Mark O’Toole said.Bleeding profusely from his wound, Pirir was rushed to Union Hospital, where he died a short time later.A fairly vague description is known of the suspect – a black male standing 5-feet, 10-inches tall with a large build, wearing black pants and a black jacket with the hood pulled over his head at the time of the murder.That suspect allegedly came into the store and inquired about a product before he whipped out a handgun, grabbed Pirir around the neck and told the other clerk to give him the cash from the register, lottery machine and a cash box, O’Toole said.After taking a fistful of cash, estimated to be a couple hundred dollars, the suspect bolted out of the store in the direction of Essex Street.But he barked out to the clerks before he left that he would kill them if they used the phone.”Soon after the suspect left, the other clerk approached the phone, at which time he observed the suspect trying to re-enter the store,” O’Toole said.Pirir, whose last known address was 35 Ingalls St., tried to keep the suspect from getting back into the store by pushing the door closed, but the suspect overpowered Pirir, partially opened the door and shot him once in the chest.”This is particularly troubling because the robbery was completed and then the suspect came back and brutally murdered Pirir,” O’Toole said.The former store had a video camera set up, but it shut off at 8 p.m., nearly two hours before the murder. As a result, little information has been gathered since the incident, leading O’Toole to seek help from the public.”Even though a long period of time has passed, hopefully someone knows some relevant information on the suspect that will lead us to him,” he said. “We looked at a few people that were involved in other robberies at the time (one an hour before the shooting in Peabody and another at a Richdale on the Lynnway the night before), but there wasn’t any evidence.”Pirir’s body was shipped back to Guatemala for burial, where his family lives, following an autopsy with the state medical examiner’s office. Pirir had moved to the city from a small village outside of Guatemala City, where he worked as a carpet layer in search of a better life, O’Toole said.Once he moved to Lynn, he lived with several other Guatemalans and was in the process of preparing for his first Communion and studying English before he was gunned down.His family was unable to be reached for comment.Anyone with information about the cold case is urged to call the department at 781-595-2000. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by texting the word tiplynn and the information to tip411 or 847411. In addition, tips can also be submitted through the department’s website, www.lynnpolice.org and clicking the submit tip icon.