The recent spate of bodega attacks across New York City continue over the weekend, as a mother was left clinging to life after a brutal beating by a suspect wielding a sledgehammer, according to police.
The 41-year-old victim was working as a cashier at the A&D Deli Grocery on East 188th Street between Marion and Webster avenues in the Fordham Heights neighborhood Saturday morning when a couple came in and demanded their money back for a hookah they bought a week before, according to United Bodegas of America (UBA). The incident quickly turned violent after the store refused to take it back, and the man suddenly started beating her with the hammer, the UBA said.
"While she was facing the woman, the husband came from behind with a sledgehammer and hit her across the head. She didn’t know what happened after that," said Fernando Mateo, of the UBA.
The woman, a mother of two teens and a 1-year-old, suffered cuts and bruising to her face and forehead, including a gash above her left eye, which photos provided by the UBA showed was swollen shut.
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"She’s in a lot of pain they’ve had four CAT scans," Mateo said. "She didn't deserve what happened to her."
Mateo noted that the victim's family was too afraid to talk to reporters Monday night because they feared retaliation.
The attack marked the fourth time a bodega worker had been attacked in the five boroughs in the span of a week. On June 17, a 62-year-old employee at a deli in Elmhurst, Queens, suffered a fractured skull after he was beaten just before midnight, according to police. The man is expected to survive.
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Two days later, a 34-year-old bodega clerk and a customer got into a fight around noon after a mess was made with ice inside Moe's Gourmet Deli on Webster Avenue in the Fordham section of the Bronx. The 34-year-old worker was shot in the chest outside the deli after the suspect went outside to his car and got a gun, police said.
On Thursday, a bodega owner was stabbed repeatedly after refusing to give a customer credit, according to the UBA. The owner of the 69 Deli on East 169th Street in the Melrose neighborhood later was leaving the bodega when the same customer went up to him outside his car and stabbed him 10 times in chest before taking off. The victim was taken to the hospital, where his condition was not immediately clear.
In another violent incident inside a bodega, a customer was stabbed to death inside bodega on Jamaica Avenue in Woodside, Queens, Saturday night, police said. The victim was knifed several times in the neck and shoulder, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
No arrests have been made in any of the incidents, with the investigations ongoing.
There are now a growing call for added protections for deli workers. Bodega owners say they need support in the form of technology like better cameras and panic buttons.
"When you press the panic button, not only will the police know that there’s danger in that bodega, but they’ll be able to see in real time through the cameras in the bodega what’s going on," said Mateo.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced there will be money — as much as $5 million — in the next fiscal year to help small businesses like bodegas provide security. But some owners said they can't wait that long to get the security.
