Stabbed dead after bodega argument

An argument inside a Manhattan bodega turned fatal Thursday morning after one of the men involved stabbed the other after the dispute spilled onto the sidewalk, police said.

The 47-year-old victim was stabbed in the chest outside Williams Grocery on Dykman St. near Seaman Ave. in Inwood shortly past 1 a.m., according to the NYPD.

Medics rushed him to Harlem Hospital, but he could not be saved.

The suspect, a heavyset man wearing dark clothing, took off on a bike and was being sought.

The suspect and victim were well known to merchants and residents.

“He was a pretty nice person,” Gabriel Montilla, 55, who works at the nearby Mamajuana Cafe, said of the victim. He added that the slain man was a “throw ice on the fighting” type of guy.

Montilla said the victim and his wife live in the Bronx and were hanging out on Seaman Ave. drinking. Montilla saw the suspect earlier in the evening, he said, and later heard the fatal confrontation was sparked by an argument that started when the suspect asked the victim for $20.

Rocco Parascandola