Egypt's police arrested in the early hours of Wednesday a man suspected of killing a liquor shop owner in east Alexandria, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

According to Al-Ahram, Alexandria's police investigations team was able to identify the 48-year-old suspect only 24 hours after the gruesome murder of storeowner Youssef Lamei.

The man was arrested while hiding in a building in the vicinity of Al-Montazah police station east of Alexandria.

Investigators say they are trying to determine the reasons and motives behind the crime.

The arrest came after police reviewed surveillance camera footage taken by neighbouring shops in Khaled Bin El-Waleed street, one of Alexandria's busiest commercial streets.

Lamei died immediately after the attack at the scene of the crime.

The storeowner, a Coptic Egyptian, ran the store for 40 years.

A video of the attack that went viral shortly after the incident shows the suspect, a bearded man wearing a yellow coat, slash the storeowner's throat twice with a knife from behind while the victim was smoking a hookah in front of his store.

It is not clear whether the attack was motivated by sectarianism.

The victim's son, Tony Youssef Lamei, said in a phone interview with Mehwar TV on Tuesday he was proud of his father's job, adding that he and his brothers would continue running his business.

"I'm proud of my dad's job, even if his occupation was one that is rejected by society," Tony said.