NYC bodega worker fatally shot in head over refusal to give away Black & Mild cigar, mother says
Nazim Berry, 37, was shot and killed because he refused to give away a Black & Mild cigar, his mother told reporters at the scene.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A 37-year-old New York City bodega worker was shot and killed on a Brooklyn street Monday because he refused to give a man a free cigar, his mother said.
The victim, Nazim Berry, was shot in the head around 4:15 p.m. on Franklin Avenue near the Botanical Garden and Brooklyn Museum, the New York Police Department said.
He was taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
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The mother of Nazim Berry holds her phone with a photo of her son. Berry, a Brooklyn bodega worker, was shot and killed Monday because he wouldn't give a free Black & Mild cigar to a customer, she said. (Peter Gerber)
The suspect fled and no arrests have been made, the NYPD said.
At the scene, Berry's mother told reporters that someone asked her son to buy them a Black & Mild cigar. When he refused, the pair began to argue, she said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The whole attitude was they couldn't accept ‘no,’" she said.
NYPD officers outside a Brooklyn bodega where an employee was fatall shot Monday. (Peter Gerber)
"So from what I hear, they went and got a gun and came back. And when the guy went to draw the gun, Nazim saw it and they had a tussle over it." she added. "And you know, when you bend down you're tussling and the guy pointed the gun right to the side of his head and shot him."
Berry, who lived in the neighborhood with his grandmother, had worked in the bodega for several years, his mother said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He was never in trouble, she said.
Candles line a Brooklyn sidewalk to honor Nazim Berry, a slain bodega employee. who was killed Monday. (Peter Gerber)
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"I knew it was senseless," she recalled thinking when she heard about the fatal shooting. "I knew that it had to be over something stupid because I know his heart."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She said Berry had previously complained about people asking him for things for free at work.