A bodega worker was killed while he was on the job in the East Village on Saturday night.
It happened just after 11:30 p.m. in front of Abdul Saleh’s family-owned business, Sal’s Deli & Grocery, in the area of East 13th and Avenue B.
Eyewitness News Reporter Kemberly Richardson met Saleh in May 2025 as the city was looking to add more panic buttons in bodegas – his location did not have one.
“Always something happens, and no one really cares,” Saleh said.
He was working at the deli the following night when a known neighborhood crook who had previously stolen from the store and harassed workers there came in, his cousin Hussain said.
Police said an argument broke out, spilling out onto the sidewalk at around 11:30 p.m. when gunshots rang out.
Saleh was shot in the torso. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital by EMS workers, but could not be saved.
Law enforcement sources told The Post that the 28-year-old gunman, Kavone Horton, was wounded when one of the bullets ricocheted and struck him.
He was taken to a hospital with non-fatal injuries.
Horton was charged with murder, manslaughter and weapons possession.
Hussain, who owns a bodega in East New York, Brooklyn, said workers at the deli had filed four police reports about the shooter — and even gotten him banned at one point for about a year.
“He’d want stuff for free,” he said. “Take, grab, and go, and always try to fight with them.”
Saleh had been in the US for about 15 years, with his wife and their two children, including a 3-year-old daughter, back in Yemen.
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