Bodega Cashier Charged with Murder for Allegedly Stabbing Suspected Shoplifter
By Caleb Mutua
A suspected shoplifter paid for a cup of coffee with his life when a 22-year-old deli cashier stabbed him to death Friday morning, police said.
Ramone Colon, 46, stormed inside A&S Candy Grocery at 104 W. 145th St. near Madison Avenue, took a cup of coffee and refused to pay, according to the police.
The clerk, Ahmed Hafeed, told Colon to leave. Colon returned a few minutes to 9 a.m. to confront Hafeed and after a brief heated argument, police said Colon attempted to grab Hafeed through a Plexiglas window.
“He [Hafeed] emerged from behind a cash register with a large kitchen knife,” said NYPD officer in a phone interview. “He then stabbed the victim several times.”
The victim exited the store with the knife still plunged inside his midsection and staggered into a nearby Dunkin Donuts. He then requested the staff at the eatery to call 911. He was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where he died shortly after.
Police took Hafeed in for questioning and later charged him with second degree murder and manslaughter. If convicted, Hafeed faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life imprisonment.
Under the New York State law, second degree murder is charged when someone exhibits “indifference to human life.”
“He had a big-ass kitchen knife,” said Jason Hayes, who lives across the street. “Anybody can’t find the knife all of a sudden. They are trying to blame the Muslim dude for defending himself and his store.”
Hayes, who is supposed to appear before the New York County grand jury as a witness in a criminal action next Thursday, described the shoplifter as a tall, black, Spanish man, about six feet tall.
“When the owner went outside to call for help, the guy grabbed him and he was beating him up right here, and when he was tussling to get free, he almost got hit by a B19 [metro bus],” said Hayes, a stay-at-home dad.
Kijana West, 42, was on her way to her barber shop on 135th Street Friday morning when the incident took place.
“They were tussling, going back and forth with the knife,” she said.
Hayes and several other witnesses said that Ramone had a knife too but the police said they were still investigating those claims.
