Facing a gunman, his ‘heart jumped’
On video, Ahmed Abdelhakim seems fearless as he fights off an armed robber and his accomplice after they stole cash from his Bronx food cart.
But in reality, the halal cart worker was scared out of his wits when he looked up that fateful night to find a masked man pointing a gun at his head.
“My heart jumped,” Abdelhakim, 32, told the Daily News.
Abdelhakim, who moved to New York from Egypt about a year and a half ago, was sitting inside his cart and listening to music on Jan. 23 when a gunman and his friend snuck up and entered the rear of his stall on White Plains Road near E. 225th St. in Williamsbridge.
“He goes, ‘Give me (all the) money,’ ” Abdelhakim recalled.
Rather than give in, Abdelhakim stood up and tried to grab the gun away from the robber, surveillance video shows. The two men then scurry away.
They managed to escape with the gun — and more than $1,000 of Abdelhakim’s hard-earned cash. While he was not injured in the fracas, the experience took a mental toll. He has since moved his stall to a location about 3 miles away and works during the daytime out of fear of being robbed again.
“No more nighttime after these two guys (come),” Abdelhakim said, adding that he’s also had trouble sleeping.
He is also desperate to get his money back so he can support his family back home in Egypt.
Police are still searching for the two robbers, who covered their faces with scarves and wore sweatpants and hoodies.
“I need police to (find) the two guys,” Abdelhakim said. “They took my money!”