Nabe in shock over cigar slay
‘Can’t live normal’ after bodega kill
A Brooklyn neighborhood is on edge after a bodega worker was executed by a gunman allegedly upset over being denied a free cigar — as one resident railed “you can’t just live a normal life anymore.”
“It’s sad. He didn’t used to bother anyone,” Crown Heights resident Barbara
R., 62, said Tuesday, a day after 37year-old Nazim
Berry was shot in the back of a head by a killer who remains on the loose.
Berry had worked at Amin
Deli as a clerk and was often seen cleaning up outside or stocking shelves, Barbara told The Post. But on Monday at around 4:15 p.m. he was shot during an argument that was set off when he refused to give a crazed customer a free Black and Mild cigar that sells for about $2, according to cops and family.
The customer had left the store and come back with a gun and shot Berry in front of the store, according to the victim’s mother, Hollie. The shooting left residents like Barbara concerned about violence in the city.
“It’s getting so that you can’t just live a normal life anymore,” Barbara
said. “Somebody comes up and asks you for a dollar, you have to wonder is this person going to kill me if I say no?”
One of Berry’s co-workers said the shooter didn’t appear to be a regular customer, but noted the victim was not someone who looked for trouble.
“All he wanted to do was help,” the co-worker said, “He didn’t drink, he didn’t do drugs.
“This is f--ked up! I hope they catch that bastard quick.”
Police released security camera images from inside and outside the deli of the man they believed pulled the trigger on Berry, and are asking the public for help in identifying him.
The images show the suspect wearing black pants, narrow metal-framed eyeglasses and a distinct varsity-style jacket with black-and-white patterned sleeves and a large D on the chest.
“I knew that it had to be over something stupid because I know his heart,” his mother told reporters, describing her son as a “beautiful person.”
The United Bodega Workers of America has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in the slaying.