On Tuesday around 3am, an unidentified suspect assaulted Ray Asghar Ghahraman, also known as Ray Alvarez, the 90-year-old owner and operator of Ray's Candy Store located in Manhattan's Alphabet City.
The Daily Mail reports that police confirmed the assault occurred Tuesday morning "when two strangers known to sell seltzer water in the area, approached the senior," and Alvarez declined their solicitation. The two men left but shortly thereafter, "one of the strangers - a balaclava-clad man seen pushing a shopping cart - returned and assaulted the storeowner."
The suspect reportedly used "an object described as a belt with a heavy rock on the end" to assault Alvarez and fled the scene after the attack. Alvares was left bleeding on the ground but declined a visit to the hospital. He reported for his shift the next day with a black eye.
Local news reports that on the night of the assault, Alvarez and another employee walked outside the store, which operates 24 hours a day, to get some air. Gabe Thorne, the other employee who was also attacked, said the water-selling suspect "out of no where pulls out a piece of rope with a rubber ball on the end, and hits me right here, I'm like wow."
Along with Alvarez, the pair filed a police report on Wednesday evening and said the suspend hit Alvarez in the face and Thorne in the chest.
NYPD released footage of the suspect and the investigation is ongoing.
"This guy wanted to cause harm for the glee of it to everyone's favorite grandpa, I don't think so," Thorne added.
"From egg creams to milkshakes to beignets, he has been serving up nostalgia since 1974," reports local ABC news.
According to the New York Post, "The tiny sweet shop is an East Village institution — with a loyal customer base."
Alvarez said that in the five decades he has operated the store he has been robbed but never assaulted. He immigrated to the US from Iran in the early 70s and started working in the city as a waiter.
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