Brooklyn bodega owner critically wounded in stabbing, search for attackers underway
CYPRESS HILLS, Brooklyn (WABC) -- A bodega owner was critically injured when he was repeatedly stabbed in the neck during a robbery in Brooklyn Thursday.
44-year-old Jashim Uddin was behind the counter of the store on Bradford Street in Cypress Hills around 2 p.m. when he was attacked.
His family said a man and a woman who are regular customers, and have shoplifted from them before, entered the store -- the man was carrying a knife.
"This guy last couple of days he was disturbing him, my brother. He was taking stuff and demanding money, but my brother talked to one of his family members and he said he not gonna do that anymore. But today that happened," the victim's brother Shahab Uddin said.
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They went behind the counter and stabbed Uddin as many as seven times in the neck before running off with cash from the register.
The family lives above the store, they heard him scream and ran downstairs to find him bleeding profusely.
Uddin's brother-in-law was emotional when asked about the attack saying he no longer felt safe in the neighborhood.
"He was like bleeding out of his neck, he was in very bad shape. We feel very unsafe in this neighborhood right now. I have been in this country since 2004 and I've never felt unsafe like that. With my kids I'm feeling very, very unsafe, " Anwar Hossain said.
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The owner was taken at Brookdale University Hospital in critical condition, but his family says he is expected to survive.
So far, no arrests, but police are investigating.
The attack comes just a few days after bodega owners met with New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea to talk about the rising crime and how it's been affecting bodegas, particularly in Brooklyn.
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