Bloodshed inside a Manhattan bodega was captured on security video, with the chaos unfolding when an angry customer allegedly attacked a worker then confronted a bystander — but the tables turned soon after, in a violent way.
Surveillance footage shows the moment police said a man threw a credit card reader at a worker inside the Washington Heights deli on St. Nicholas Avenue and West 181st Street Wednesday night. Moments later, he is seen getting into a fight with another customer. But what he didn't know: that customer had a knife.
It started when the man in a blue hoodie, identified as Edwin Rodriguez, got into an argument with the worker, who tried to get him to leave the store. At one point he even got behind the deli counter, video showed. The worker told NBC New York that Rodriguez is often inside the store, starting arguments.
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"Last night is not the first time," said the worker, who said his name was Alosh.
Soon after, Rodriguez hurled the credit card reader at a teenage worker behind the counter. He then went up to another customer in the store, seen wearing a gray jackets and pants.
“He say ‘I wanna fight you, I wanna fight you,'" Alosh said, adding that the other man replied back "three or four times, 'I don’t want an issue. I don’t know you. Just leave me please.’”
The man in gray then pulled out a knife, police said, and stabbed Rodriguez repeatedly, at least a dozen times. Eventually both men ran out of the deli, with Rodriguez badly injured and the man in gray taking off.
"Yeah I’m scared, I called the police. I go in the back and called the police," Alosh said.
Rodriguez was treated for his injuries and faces an assault charge for his alleged attack on the deli workers. The 18-year-old worker who had the credit card reader thrown at him was not badly hurt, and was recovering.
Police said they want to find the other customer, the man who was initially a bystander. Though it's unclear what charges he would face or if he will claim the stabbing was done in self-defense.
