YOU’RE NOT KILLING THIS KID
B’klyn deli customer saves teen from vicious mob
Gutsy good Samaritan Vincent Millan held a bike seat in his hand and the memory of Junior in his head.
Millan teamed with employees and fellow customers of a Brooklyn bodega to save a terrified teen from a mob of armed assailants in an attack eerily reminiscent of Lesandro (Junior) Guzman-Feliz’s murder last June at the machete-wielding hands of Bronx gangbangers.
“That flashed in my head when it happened,” Millan told the Daily News. “I said, ‘Nah, you’re not coming in here to do what you did up in the Bronx.’”
Millan, outnumbered 4-1 and facing one man armed with a knife, sported no obvious cuts or bruises after surviving the Thursday evening street fight — although his blood remained hours later on the sidewalk near the El Conunco fruit and vegetable store on Knickerbocker Ave.
“I had to stop these guys from dragging this kid out,” he explained. “How could I live with myself if I just let them?”
Surveillance video of the frenetic attack shows the unidentified 17-year-old riding a moped along the sidewalk before pulling up beside a fruit stand brimming with pineapples, mangoes and oranges. He’s then confronted by five menacing youths — including one who whacks the teen in the face.
The victim quickly abandons the shiny, bright red vehicle and bolts inside the store, where quick-thinking workers and customers barricade the door to hold the attackers at bay. One of the assailants then hops on the moped and speeds off.
Store worker Jones Garcia, 20, recalled his instant flashback to the execution of Junior as soon as the confrontation began.
“The first moment (the teen) came into the store, that’s when it came into my mind — it’s like what happened in the Bronx,” said Garcia. “If he didn’t run into the store he would have been really injured. Or maybe dead.”
Shop owner Denisse Castillo, 32, felt the same way as the scenario unfolded before her eyes.
“When I saw the knife and stuff and the way they were trying to get in the store, I
thought, ‘This is something,’” she recalled. “It’s not just the stealing the bike. It was the same thing that happened to Junior.”
Millan had just biked across the Williamsburg Bridge from Manhattan and stopped to pick up cat food when the insanity erupted. The attackers furiously kicked and smashed at the front entrance, tying to reach their teen target.
And then Millan, 43, stepped outside to confront the crew.
“I figured the door isn’t going to hold for much longer so I came outside and said, ‘What the f—k are you guys doing?’” Millan told The News. “And right away, they started circling me. I had my bike seat in my hands. They’re breaking bats over my head, my face, hitting me in my face with I don’t know how many objects.”
The video captured Millan holding his own despite the odds — even bashing the windshield of the one suspect’s car before knocking another down during the sidewalk scuffle. Millan bounced up from a brief knockdown, and was still standing when the attackers fled.
A 16-year-old boy who sped off on the moped was arrested 15 minutes later after slamming into a car along Halsey St. He was charged with assault, possession of stolen property, possession of marijuana and driving the wrong way.
A second suspect, 26-yearold Ramon Garcia-Disla of Brooklyn, was busted on charges of robbery, gang assault and assault, police an Junior, nounced Saturday. 15, was dragged by a group of men from a Bathgate Ave. bodega near 183rd St. in Tremont on June 20, 2018, and hacked with a machete on a sidewalk in what authorities said was a case of mistaken identity. The bloodied teen died after stumbling to nearby St. Barnabas Hospital.
The caught-on-camera attack drew national attention after the video was released showing Junior being pulled from the store and stabbed and slashed. The #JusticeForJunior hashtag went viral, and put a national spotlight on gang violence.
That store’s owner, Modesto Cruz, came under fire after he was accused of doing nothing to help during the Bronx attack. Cruz later insisted he did try to help.