A beloved bodega worker was shot dead in the East Village late Saturday night, and the perpetrator was seriously wounded with a ricochet bullet from his own gun following a dispute in the store, sources and eyewitnesses said.
The flame of a lone candle could be seen flitting outside of the shuttered Sal’s Deli and grocery on Sunday morning, a grim and solemn reminder of the horrific events that occurred the night prior on 13th Street and Avenue B.
According to police sources, cops from the 9th Precinct received a 911 call that a person had been shot at around 11:38 p.m. Upon arrival, officers say they found two 28-year-old men with gunshot wounds to their torsos.
EMS rushed both men to Bellevue Hospital, where one of them was pronounced dead and the second was listed in stable condition. Sources familiar with the investigation report that the surviving man is being investigated as a suspect after his wound was found to have been a bullet that ricocheted into his body. No arrest has officially been made.
Police identified the deceased as Abdul Saleh, who locals in the area say was a beloved deli worker and had just returned from Yemen.
According to Rex Hughes, he knew Saleh well and would go to the gym with him. Hughes was walking his dog when he stumbled on a dispute between the two men that started in the store and spilled out into the street.
“They started fighting. I’m over here with the dog facing the opposite direction when I hear pop, pop, pop. One thing leads to another, and I’m over here while the guy next to me is doing chest compressions on, and he was DOA at the hospital,” Hughes told amNewYork. “He died over a petty argument. The guy that did all that, the cause of drama, he had a hole in him too.”
Hughes remembered his friend as a good man.
“He had a really great sense of humor. Really a lot of fun. And a real ball buster, in a good way, like a real dude, like a good guy, and at the gym, he was just solid,” Hughes said.
Garrett Erickson told amNewYork that he was inside his apartment when he heard the gunfire and decided to heroically rush to the scene and perform life-saving measures on the victim, who he said briefly regained consciousness.
“I heard the gunshot, and then heard two more. Everybody looked out the window, and we saw the bodega dude wrestling with a guy in the street, and then one dude ran off, and I grabbed a med kit, and I ran out and, like, I just tried to help out,” Erickson said. “He was kind of in and out of consciousness, and then I checked his pulse. It was kind of very loose. And then he was just kind of very limp. And then I did compressions until, about halfway through one cycle, and then he kind of came back a little bit, and he was responsive.”
Still, Saleh could not be saved at the hospital.
Fernando Mateo, spokesman for the United Bodegas of America, condemned the incident, but also added that violence against workers is on the rise.
“This is not an isolated incident; it is part of a troubling pattern,” Mateo said. “Our bodegas are facing violence across all five boroughs, and enough is enough. We are offering this reward because we need accountability and stronger protections now. Completing 400 panic button installations this weekend is a critical step, but more must be done. We stand with the victims and their families and will not stay silent as our workers continue to be targeted.”
The investigation remains ongoing.
