Fish mart shrimp 'snatcher' killed
A man was killed and his brother left clinging to life after an upper Manhattan fishmonger stabbed them for allegedly trying to steal shrimp, authorities said Wednesday.
The brothers — identified by their distraught father as Malik Burrell, 25, and Robert “Bobby” Burrell, 29 — were knifed inside Fish Express Fish Market on St. Nicholas Place near Edgecombe Avenue in Sugar Hill around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, cops said.
Malik died from his wounds and Bobby was listed in stable condition, although he suffered a punctured lung and other injuries, according to the dad.
Police arrested the worker, Junior Hernandez, 34, of The Bronx. He was charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon and assault. As he was being led out of the 30th Precinct station Wednesday night, Hernandez said: “Sorry. I never meant to hurt him.”
Hernandez has no known prior criminal history.
The deadly fracas began when one of the brothers tried to swipe the seafood, authorities said. He was kicked out of the market without any commotion — but returned a short time later with his brother and the pair became aggressive, cops said.
The worker then pulled out a knife and stabbed both intruders in their torsos, authorities said.
Both were taken to Harlem Hospital, where the younger brother was pronounced dead.
Police sources said the dead man was the aggressor.
Robert Burrell, 49, wailed as he saw his sons’ blood stains on the concrete. It was Malik’s birthday, he told The Post.
“My sons were good kids, they ain’t get in no trouble, they not no hard criminals,” Burrell told The Post. “I’m crushed man, I’m hurt. I can’t believe my boy was killed over some shrimps. They killed my baby on his birthday.”
He denied his sons were trying to steal from the store, saying that nobody in the family needs to shoplift food.
But a witness, 60-year-old Pedro Laza of Harlem, said Bobby had allegedly indeed been trying to steal. “The guy tried to stick a lobster down his pants,” he said.
He was reticent when caught, however. And he was pulling the seafood out of his pants to return it when the workers set upon him, Laza said. Then a man Laza referred to as “Junior” came out with a butcher knife and began stabbing.
“Nobody stopped him stabbing,” Laza said. “He was like a machine.”
Robert insisted the man was not acting in self-defense when he attacked his sons.
“They didn’t have no weapons,” said Robert (right with Zaimar Eusebio, the mother of his grandchild). “They came at my sons with weapons. You see who’s dead and who’s bleeding in the hospital.”