Deli worker killed chasing would-be robber from store in East Harlem
EAST HARLEM, Manhattan (WABC) -- A deli worker was stabbed to death in East Harlem late Tuesday after he got into an altercation with a man who tried to rob the bodega.
Arriving officers found 34-year-old Ahmed Almulaiki with a stab wound to the chest just after 11:30 p.m. at 102nd Street and Second Avenue.
The victim, a father of a 12-year-old girl, was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
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Police say the suspect was a frequent customer at the deli but became belligerent after he demanded store credit but was denied. Deli workers were not expecting him to have a knife.
Surveillance video shows then moment Almulaiki was stabbed after trying to run off the would-be robber with a baseball bat.
The victim's cousin, Mohamed Zokari, told Eyewitness News another family member called 911 to report the robbery.
"He got into an argument with this customer," he said. "Then the fight ends, and the customer had a knife on him. He got stabbed."
The suspect fled down East 102nd Street.
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Almulaiki is originally from Yemen and was working to support his family back home.
"This guy is working hard to feed his family," another relative said. "He's just trying to make a living. Who are you to stab him?"
The deli remained closed Wednesday and locals laid flowers to remember Almulaiki.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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