A man accused of gunning down a man in front of his 10-year-old daughter inside a Manhattan bodega nearly four years ago has been convicted of murder, prosecutors said Friday.
A Jury found Joseph Morros guilty on all counts following a 12-day trial on the Nov. 15, 2022 killing, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“A jury has found Joseph Morros guilty of viciously and callously taking Tykeem Berry’s life in an intentional act of gun violence,” said Bragg. “Instead of walking away, Joseph Morros robbed Mr. Berry’s family of a beloved father, son and friend.”
“What is particularly heartbreaking about this incident is Mr. Berry’s young daughter witnessed his murder — a horrific trauma no child should ever have to endure,” Bragg added.
Berry, who had just picked up his daughter from school and was inside the 144 Deli-Grocery in Inwood, caught Morros staring at him, and the pair began to argue at about 4:05 p.m., former NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said at the time.
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Surveillance video shows part of the shooting incident at the 144 Deli-Grocery on Dec 15, 2022. (Obtained by Daily News)
In the caught-on-video killing, Morros can be seen leaving the store located on Nagle Ave. near Thayer St. before charging back in with his weapon drawn and firing on the victim. Essig said.
“This man shot my son right in front of his 10-year-old daughter,” Berry’s father, Daryl Frazier, 53, told the Daily News shortly after the killing. “My son was a good man. It’s unbelievable. How are we supposed to deal with this?”
A vendor working nearby recounted the deadly showdown.
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Berry was shot inside the bodega at 144 Nagle Ave. on December 15, 2022. (Sam Costanza for New York Daily News)
“The two young guys were arguing inside the grocery. The guy with the pistol said, ‘Come out. Come outside. Step outside.’ But he wouldn’t,” said Nelson Trinidad, 28, who sold fruit and vegetables from a van on Nagle Ave. “So he went back in and they struggled. He shot him right in the chest. One time.”
In addition to his daughter, Berry leaves behind an 8-year-old son, his sister said.
“My brother was a loving and caring man,” said Berry’s sister, Karen Mebane, 43. “He had a shady past, but he grew up to be a good man, a good father, and was leading a good life.”
Morros has 10 prior arrests, two of them for weapons possession, police said.