Bodega workers in the Bronx and Brooklyn are reconsidering how they protect themselves as police continue searching for a man they say is connected to two fatal shootings this week.
Police identified 31-year-old Jesus Acosta of the Bronx as a man they are seeking in connection with both shootings. MD Yousef, 44, was killed and another man was wounded at a store in Brownsville early Sunday. Two days later, 33-year-old Tayvon Shuler was killed at a South Bronx deli. No arrest had been announced as of Wednesday evening.
Photos of Tayvon Shuler at a memorial outside 149 Grill & Deli in the Bronx.
Charles Lane / Gothamist
The shootings have rattled workers and others around both stores. One worker near the Brooklyn shooting said he has even begun closing early.
Outside 149 Grill & Deli on Wednesday, about nine of Shuler’s friends gathered around a makeshift memorial with dozens of candles, balloons, photographs and bottles of liquor.
Jay Zavtvous, 24, said he had known Shuler for about two years and described him as someone who looked out for people in the neighborhood.
“He was a good guy. He was for the community,” Zavtvous said. “It wasn’t about violence. It was about building in the community.”
Police said Shuler was inside 149 Grill & Deli on East 149th Street just after midnight Tuesday when a gunman approached him, fired several times and struck him in the chest. The gunman then took an unknown amount of cash from behind the register and fled, according to police. Shuler was taken to Lincoln Hospital, where he later died.
MD Yousef, left, who police say was fatally shot at American Best Pizza and Wings in Brownsville on Sunday.
Courtesy of Mohammad Abdul Jalil
The Brownsville shooting happened just after midnight Sunday inside American Best Pizza and Wings on Rockaway Avenue in Brownsville. Police said Yousef was shot in the head and a 39-year-old man was shot in the leg. A store co-owner said an unknown amount of cash was also taken from the store during the incident. Both were taken to Brookdale Hospital, where Yousef died. The other man, whose name has not been released, was listed in stable condition, authorities said.
On Wednesday, the store was still closed three days after the shooting. Mohammad Abdul Jalil, a co-owner of the store, said Yousef was an employee and a childhood friend he grew up with in Bangladesh.
“He’s my best friend,” Jalil said. “We are growing together.”
Jalil said he was at home when the wounded employee called him. He rushed to the store and found police there. About an hour and a half later, he said, police told him his friend had died.
Mohammed Ali, 28, works at a store near the site of Sunday’s fatal shooting in Brownsville.
Charles Lane / Gothamist
At a nearby store, 28-year-old Mohammed Ali said Yousef would stop in as a customer. Ali said the killing has made him more aware of working late.
“If I see that places are quiet, like the streets are quiet, and my guts tell me to close, I just close immediately,” he said. “I don’t wait for a second moment.”
The United Bodegas of America said it was offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Acosta’s arrest and conviction. The group also called for more panic buttons in bodegas and legislation that would allow trained and licensed bodega owners and workers to carry firearms.
“Give us protection, panic buttons and the legal ability to defend ourselves, and impose a mandatory three- to five-year prison sentence on anyone convicted of carrying an illegal gun. We cannot wait for another deadly shooter who does not care about human life,” UBA President Radahmes Rodriguez said in a statement.
American Best Pizza and Wings in Brownsville, where a man was fatally shot early Sunday.
Charles Lane / Gothamist
The group plans to hold a news conference Wednesday night outside the Bronx deli where Shuler was killed.
Jalil said Yousef came to the United States about three years ago while his wife and two daughters remained in Bangladesh. He said the man loved soccer and cricket and regularly played chess with his roommates.
“I’m very bad. I can’t explain to you,” Jalil said. “I lose him. I can recover? It’s not possible.”