Threw punch & was shot dead
Ex-con in liquor store mayhem
A man shot dead in an East Harlem liquor store threw the punch that sparked the gunfire, police said Wednesday.
Darell McAllister — free less than two years after serving time for possession of a loaded gun — was killed during an argument between several men inside R & C Wine & Liquor on E. 111 St. near Madison Ave. about 9:45 p.m. on Tuesday.
It wasn’t clear what the argument was about, cops said.
When McAllister threw a punch, one of the men pulled out a .22-caliber handgun and fired once, hitting McAllister in the head, police said.
The 24-year-old victim was rushed to Harlem Hospital, but he could not be saved.
The shooter and his pals ran off and are still being sought. Police recovered a shell casing inside the liquor store.
McAllister, who lived in the Bronx, was paroled in May 2019 after serving two years and seven months for a Manhattan gun conviction.
He had four arrests on his record — three for gun possession and one for marijuana, police said.
Despite his criminal record, McAllister was more than just a rap sheet, said his distraught mother, Rena Harris. McAllister, the youngest of 11 children, was an expectant father and a “mama’s boy,” who was trying to get his life together after a stretch of bad luck, she said.
“My youngest boy was always here for me.” Harris said, crying in her Bronx living room. “He was generous. He was good. This boy was not a criminal. He was not gang-affiliated.”
Harris said her son was out giving a friend a ride home when the shooting occurred. She said the favor was typical of McCallister because he was always “very generous.”
She said he was looking forward to the baby’s birth, and sharing some of that generosity with the boy or girl.
“He was so excited to be a father,” Harris said, beaming.
Harris said she last saw her son two hours before he was shot, after she made him dinner. The meal was shrimp and rice, and the plate was still in his bedroom Wednesday.
“No mother should have to go through this,” she said. “I wished they would’ve just whooped his ass or broke a rib so that when he comes home, I could’ve taken care of him.”
“That’s my baby,” she added caressing a photo of her dead son. “That was who Darell was, just a kid who loved his family and friends. He’s not a bad kid at all.”
Harris and McAllister’s cousin Crystal Harris took turns comforting each other.
“It’s a lot to process,” the cousin said. “No mother should be burying their child. He didn’t deserve this.”