UPPER EAST SIDE (WABC) — A bodega worker on the Upper East Side was shot and killed during a robbery late Friday night.
Police say the walked into the bodega on 81st Street and 3rd Avenue at around 11:30 p.m., demanding money from an employee.
The gunman shot the 67-year-old victim in the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Very nice guy, a family man. And beyond that, he’s a human you would call that you can’t describe how nice he was….Always hardworking, ” a friend of the victim, Angel Vieera, said.
Officials say the suspect was seen fleeing from the area, heading south on 3rd Avenue riding a scooter.
Police say they believe this incident is connected to another bodega robbery in the Bronx that happened about a half an hour later.
Another bodega on Melrose Avenue was robbed at gunpoint.
Officials believe the suspect was the same in both incidents because the suspect was described to have been wearing distinctive clothing.
The suspect was wearing a white hazmat suit and a black mask. Police say he was seen fleeing on 160th Street after the Bronx robbery.
