A beloved East Village bodega worker shot to death allegedly by a banned, troublemaking customer was a second-generation deli clerk whose father famously fought off a pair of bumbling armed robbers in the Bronx, a relative said Tuesday.
More than 10 years ago, Ahmed Hussein, an immigrant from Yemen, escaped the violent end that befell Abdul Saleh, 28, a tragic fate compounded by the fact that it was the father who worked and saved money to bring the son to America to follow in his footsteps.
“I believe in God but I was always scared for my kids,” the grieving father, now 69, said in Spanish through a translator. “We have to do something for the bodegas. I’m just in a bad mood, devastated.”
Hussein, who is retired now, spends most of his time with his children, according to one of his cousins.
“He was on the same block where his kids worked, so he would go in and bring them food and is back and forth,” the cousin said.
Hussein has tried to put distance between himself and the 2015 attempted armed robbery that nearly killed him. But his own son’s death brought him back.
Hussein’s bravery, as described in a Daily News article at the time, was so inspiring that it moved former President Bill Clinton to recount the incident during a story he told about the contribution of Muslims to American society
“Two robbers come in with pistols,” Clinton said at the time. “He slaps at the gunman’s hand who was standing closest to him. The gun goes off, misses him by a few inches.”
Ahmed Hussein, then a clerk at the 1738 Finest Deli in the Bronx, points to where a robber’s bullet hit the counter in 2015. (Michael,l Schwartz for New York Daily News)
The gunmen ran off, and Hussein called 911. His appreciative boss gave him the rest of the day off.
“He went home, took out his prayer rug and gave thanks for his survival,” Clinton said, “and said a prayer that finally his wife and four children, now 15, 17, 19 and 21, might be able to join him.”
Saleh was one of those children, and just like his father, he was working hard, sending money to his family in Yemen, hoping to bring them to the U.S.
In fact, Saleh, the father of a 3-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son, had just met the little boy for the first time on a trip to Yemen, returning the day before he was killed Saturday night.
Slain deli worker Abdul Saleh is pictured in a recent photo with his 3-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son. (Courtesy of Family)
“His wife is doing bad, real, real bad,” the victim’s cousin said.
Cops said Saleh got into an argument with his killer that was caught on surveillance video inside his family’s store on the corner of Avenue B and E. 13th St. around 11:35 p.m. After the fight spilled onto the street and into the intersection, the shooter opened fire, police said.
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
East Village deli worker Abdul Saleh was fatally shot during an argument with a customer inside his family’s store, Sal’s Deli & Grocery, on the corner of Avenue B and E. 13th St. in Manhattan on Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
The accused shooter, 28-year-old Kavone Horton, was in critical but stable condition after being struck by a ricocheting bullet from his own gun, police sources said. He was charged Monday with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.
The victim’s cousin said the alleged gunman was known to the deli’s workers and had been prohibited from entering the store, but flouted the ban.
Friends and neighbors visit a memorial for Abdul Saleh (inset) on Sunday outside the East Village deli where he was fatally shot Saturday night. (Julian Roberts-Grmela / New York Daily News)
Saleh once told ABC7 New York that he welcomed a plan under then-Mayor Eric Adams to install panic buttons in 500 delis across the city, his cousin said.
“To be honest, he didn’t want to be here no more,” the cousin said. “He didn’t feel safe.”