BRONX BODEGA DEATH
Innocent bystander fatally shot Easter Sunday
An innocent bystander was shot dead in a Bronx bodega by a gunman trying to rob someone else, cops and sources said Tuesday.
Stefon Barnes, 29, was inside the Gourmet Deli on East Tremont Avenue near Marmion Avenue at around 4:20 a.m. Easter Sunday when the thief flashed his gun and tried to rob another shopper, authorities said.
During the struggle, the armed man fired a round that struck Barnes in the right thigh, police said.
Barnes was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died, authorities said.
Before the shooting, Barnes had simply been eyeing a rack of chips for sale inside the store when the botched robbery erupted steps from where he was standing, according to video obtained by ABC-7 News.
Moments earlier, revelers were dancing and singing inside the deli, including a woman wearing bunny ears, the video shows.
Antonio Sanchez, 64, told The Post he was in the store buying soda and a juice just minutes before gunfire erupted.
Wrong place and time
Barnes “was in the store but the fight wasn’t with him,” Sanchez said. “He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Sanchez said Barnes was calm and collected when he greeted him with a “Wassup, how you doing?”
“I only left the store five minutes before the shooting and I was just across the street,” Sanchez added. “I heard the gun go off but I thought it was firecrackers, which are common around here.”
By Tuesday, a makeshift memorial had been set up outside the deli — with bouquets of flowers in vases made from Espolón Blanco tequila bottles, unopened bottles of Don Julio tequila, candles and messages written by mourners on a flattened cardboard box taped to the window.
“U will forever be missed. They took your beautiful soul to early,” one message said.
“Sleep easy Stephy,” another person wrote.
The NYPD released a photo early Tuesday of the suspected shooter wearing a black jacket over a black hoodie, as well as black sweatpants and sneakers.
He was described as having a medium complexion, about 5-foot-10 to 6 feet tall, with a medium build.