REVEALED: Ecuadorian migrant worker killed in Jersey City shooting died a hero by opening a door in the Jewish store to let a customer to escape when the anti-Semitic gunman opened fire
- Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, 49, was shot and killed in the attack on Tuesday
- The Ecuadorian migrant worked in JC Kosher Supermarket as a helper
- He ran to the back of the store when the shooting began and opened the back door for Chaim Deutsch
- He escaped but Rodriguez collapsed on the doorstep and died
- His family moved to the US from Ecuador three years ago after he lost his job as an engineer
- He had hoped to find similar work but the language barrier made it difficult
- His widow has thanked the Jewish community in Jersey City for embracing him and giving him work to support their family
- Now, they are raising money to take his body back to Ecuador on a GoFundMe page
The Ecuadorian migrant worker who was killed in the Jersey City kosher supermarket shooting died a hero by opening the door for a customer to escape before collapsing, it has been revealed.
Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, 49, was working in the JC Kosher Supermarket when shooters Francine Graham and David Anderson stormed the store on Tuesday in an anti-Semitic rampage.
He was shot along with Leah Mindel Ferencz, the store owner’s wife, and customer Moshe Hirsch Deutsch and David Lax. Lax escaped but the three others died.
Another person was in the store and survived by running through the back door when Miguel opened it.
He is Chaim Deutsch, Moshe Deutsch’s cousin, who had gone with him to the store to get something to eat.
Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, 49, has been hailed a hero for opening the back door of the kosher supermarket to let a customer escape. He collapsed at the door and died
Rabbi David Niederman revealed this week that Rodriguez saved Chaim’s life.
‘After being shot, he opened the back door for a customer to be rescued.
‘Unfortunately, he died at the footstep of that door,’ he said.
Rodriguez’s widow has since spoken out to thank the Jewish community in Jersey City for embracing her husband and family.
He got a job at the kosher supermarket at a time when he could not get a white collar job because his English was weak, she said.
The family moved from Ecuador to New Jersey three years ago after Rodriguez lost his engineering job three years ago.
Rodriguez moved to America from Ecuador three years ago after the engineering company he worked for went bankrupt. He had hoped to find a similar job but because his English was weak, he could not find one. He is shown with his wife, daughter and mother
Jewish men carry Moshe Deutsche’s casket after his funeral on Wednesday, the day after the shooting. He was one of four people killed in the rampage
Leah Mindel Ferencz, 32, the store owner’s wife, customer Moshe Hirsch Deutsch, 24, were killed
Detective Joseph Seals was also killed
He and his wife and children moved to Jersey City because his wife had family there.
‘The Jewish community learned how to love my husband and was there for him and embraced him,’ she said through tears at a vigil on Thursday night.
She paid tribute to him as ‘a good man of principle, of courage… a good son, good husband, good father that does nothing to anyone.’
He had just returned from vacation and Tuesday was his first shift back at work.
Regular customers at the store say he worked six days a week and was known for his infectious smile.
‘This guy, he knew everybody by their name. He was a wonderful guy,’ Mark Schwartz, one regular, told The New York Times.
The family is now raising money on a GoFundMe page to send his body back to Ecuador.
Graham and Anderson were deliberately targeting the Jewish community.
Both had made anti-Semitic remarks on social media and are believed to have been members of the Black Hebrew Israelites.
Graham and Anderson are filmed approaching the store with their guns drawn
Another man – David Lax – was able to escape through the front door
Anti-Semitic shooters Francine Graham and David Anderson were both killed in a shotout with police