Beloved bodega worker fatally shot at NYC store one year after saying he feared for his life due to increased crime

Police said the incident began inside the store, with witnesses saying Saleh and a 28-year-old man had been arguing. The argument spilled out onto the sidewalk, where Saleh was shot in the stomach, per ABC 7. The man who walked into the bodega is believed to be in the hospital with a gunshot wound after one of his bullets ricocheted and hit him.

United Bodegas of America, an association representing bodega workers, has questioned whether the person responsible has a criminal record. Spokesman Fernando Mateo said, "When you get away with something over and over again, you're going to commit a bigger crime every time. And we need to punish these people. We can't allow them to get away with it." The association is offering a reward of $5,000 for information leading to the man’s arrest.

In a May 2025 interview with ABC 7, Saleh expressed concerns for violence against bodega workers he had seen. "People got shot, killed, sometimes you got robbed and the police never responds quickly."

https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/2048800584849862764?s=20

Friends said Saleh had just returned from where his family lives in Yemen. Jack Lugo told the outlet, "He facetimed his daughter and showed her my dog about half an hour to 45 minutes before that happened."

Members of the community remembered Saleh as a giving man. "Even when I was younger, I would go in hungry and didn't have money, and they said, ' Don't worry, tell your father to just pay me back," said Ciara Lugo.

https://rumble.com/embed/v76qzc2/?pub=2n05b