In an apparent case of mistaken identity, an unarmed Bronx bodega worker was shot dead by the NYPD early Friday morning as he was fleeing a robbery at his uncle’s store, the New York Daily News reported.
Police officers were responding to a three-man masked robbery at Aneurys Deli Grocery on Franklin Ave. in Morrisania at around 2 a.m. when an officer mistook the fleeing Reynaldo Cuevas, 20, for a suspect. While the owner had opened the door to the bodega with his hands up and said, “They’re robbing me!”, Cuevas fled the scene in silence, without raising his hands, according to an eyewitness.
Another witness said none of the officers identified themselves or shouted out before the fire was shot and Cuevas dropped to the ground. The police then pulled the body to a stretcher, according to witnesses. Cuevas was pronounced dead not too long after the incident at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx.
All three suspects were arrested, and the store owner escaped unharmed.
The NYPD has not released any comments on the witness accounts, but has confirmed that a 20-year-old Hispanic male was killed at the scene.