Shocking moment Bronx deli worker is shot dead by customer after he tries to defend himself with broomstick during ‘petty row over one cigarette’
- Mohammed Qutaish, 20, was gunned down as he stood behind his deli counter
- A witness said a row broke over the Deli worker’s refusal to sell a single cigarette
- Dramatic footage shows the attacker pull out a gun and fire in broad daylight
- Qutaish is seen in the video attempting to fend off a group of customers
- Adrien Topping, 28, has been charged with murder and his 25-year-old sister Raquel Kelly has been booked by New York police with an unrelated drug charge
Dramatic video shows the moment a 20-year-old man was gunned down as he stood behind the counter of a New York deli in a ‘petty’ dispute that a witness said was sparked by a single cigarette.
Mohammed Qutaish can be seen trying to fend off a group of customers with a broomstick in surveillance footage obtained by the New York Post.
Adrien Topping, 28, was arrested on Wednesday and faces charges of murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
His 25-year-old sister Raquel Kelly was booked for criminal possession of a controlled substance in a charge not related to the shooting, police said. She is the woman who can be seen with Topping on the surveillance tape, News 12 reported.
Mohammed Qutaish, 20, was gunned down while he was working in a Deli on Tuesday in the Bronx
Qutaish is seen in the video attempting to fend off a group of customers with a broomstick
Video appears to show the row break out before Topping pulls a gun out on Qutaish and fires at him. As Qutaish disappears from view behind the counter, the suspect and woman flee the scene.
The woman is reported to have become irate when Qutaish refused to sell her a single cigarette, known as a ‘loosie’. She allegedly returned with the attacker and the row broke out.
Qutaish was taken to Montefiore Medical Center where he died.
A man who was in the deli at the time of the shooting told News 12: ‘Young lady came in the store asking for cigarettes. He wouldn’t sell her those cigarettes, so she started behaving erratically, started cursing at him.
‘Her man went and got a gun, came back in the store and killed him.
‘It’s that petty. Over loosies,’
Adrien Topping, 28, was arrested on Wednesday and faces charges of murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon, police said
3700 White Plains Road in Williamsbridge
The man described Qutaish as ‘a good guy’ and a ‘cool, calm, respectful kid’ who was ‘just trying to make a living’.
Qutaish was pronounced dead at Montefiore Medical Center after the attack on 3700 White Plains Road in Williamsbridge.
William Brown, a friend of the victim, told CBS New York: ‘He was very humble. He didn’t really bother anybody.’
Qutaish’s death comes four days after another Bronx deli worker, Yahya Almunster, was killed while working, sparking calls from locals for extra safety measures to be enforced for staff.