Customer shot and killed when he tried to diffuse robbery underway at Brooklyn deli

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A customer who tried to stop a robbery at a Brooklyn deli was shot and killed.

Now, the NYPD is trying to find his killers.

"He had a nice soft heart; he loved to help people," said Beverley Bailey, the victim's mother.

Sadly, that is what took the life of this 32-year-old beloved son, and father of one.

Surveillance video shows Damion Francis inside the deli on Remsen Avenue Tuesday night when two men walked in with the intention to rob the place.

One of the men, in the red hooded sweatshirt was armed.

When Francis saw what was going on, he tried to diffuse the situation. That's when he was shot in the chest.

"I started to cry and I cried for like two days straight and I couldn't eat anything," Bailey said.

After Francis was shot, the man then reached over the counter, took the money out of the register, and the two suspects ran off.

Peggy Hernandez owns the furniture store right next door. She says what happened there is a much deeper problem in the community.

"I think that they need to do a mandatory work program for all of the kids out here in society," Hernandez said.

Francis' mother says despite the tragic death of her son, she says she forgives the men responsible.

"If it happened that they get caught then I would like to go and sit with them and just introduce them to the Father up in heaven so they can have life and live it abundantly, because he will forgive them," Bailey said.