A violent crime inside a Manhattan grocery store was caught on security cameras. An angry customer can be seen allegedly attacking an employee and then confronting a passerby.
In the footage, you can see the moment when the enraged customer threw a credit reader at a worker at the deli located in Washington Heights at St. Nicholas Avenue and West 181st Street last Wednesday night.
The event unfolded when a subject wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, identified as Edwin Rodriguez, argued with the employee, who attempted to pull him out of the store after standing behind the counter, according to the video.
The worker said Rodriguez, who was frequently inside the store, started arguments, NBC New York reported.
“Last night wasn’t the first time,” the worker, Alosh, said.
The Hispanic man threw the credit card reader at another teenage employee behind the deli counter. He then approached another customer in the store, who was wearing a light-colored jacket and gray pants.
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“He said, ‘I want to fight you, I want to fight you,'” Alosh said, adding that the other man responded “three or four times, ‘I don’t want a problem. I don’t know you leave me, please.'”
The guy in the light-colored jacket pulled out a knife, according to police officials, and stabbed Rodriguez at least a dozen times. Eventually, the two individuals left the store, with the Hispanic man critically wounded.
Rodriguez was treated for his injuries and faces an assault charge for his alleged attack on store employees.
The teenage worker, 18, at whom the credit card reader was thrown, was not seriously injured and is recovering.
Officials said they are trying to find the subject who stabbed Rodriguez, who was initially an ordinary bystander. It is unclear what charge he would face or whether he would claim the stabbing was in self-defense.