Tipsheet

This New York Bodega Owner Said He Feared for His Safety, and Now He's Dead

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  April 29, 2026 8:00 AM

Less than a year ago, New York bodega worker Abdul Saleh told ABC7 that he feared for his safety in the city.

"People got shot, killed. Sometimes they got robbed, and the police never respond quick," Saleh said at the time. Now Saleh, a 28-year-old father of two, is dead.

He was shot to death by a known shoplifter outside of his workplace and bled to death in his brother's arms.

Here's more from The New York Post:

A Big Apple deli worker gunned down outside his family’s bodega after a late-night scuffle with a known menace had tragically begged his brother to take care of his kids as he bled to death in his arms.

Father of two Abdul Saleh, 28, uttered the final heartbreaking words to his sibling just moments after he took a bullet outside Sal’s Deli and Grocery in East Village late Saturday night, a grieving relative told The Post.

“Before he died, he said, ‘Just take care of my kids,'” Saleh’s heartbroken cousin, Basam Hussain, said.

Saleh had just traveled to Yemen, where his wife and young children live. He had been back in New York less than a day before he was murdered.

He was shot by Kavone Horton, 28, who had stolen from the store in the past and harassed workers there. According to The New York Post, Basam Hussain, the victim's cousin, said Horton would come to the store frequently. "He’d want stuff for free,” Hussain claimed. “Take, grab, and go, and always try to fight with them."

Mamdani said violence is a social construct. Saleh's family would disagree.

Democrats consider that a feature, not a bug, of their policies.

Horton had a lengthy criminal record with nearly a dozen prior arrests, including one in 2016 when he was part of 120 alleged gang members busted in a massive federal takedown. Horton was part of a gang war that ended with the stabbing of a 15-year-old boy and the death of a 92-year-old woman who was hit by a stray bullet in her own home.

Despite this, Horton was sentenced to time already served in 2017 and freed on supervised release. According to The New York Post, Horton was a known menace in the neighborhood. The bodega where Saleh worked filed two complaints with the police over Horton's behavior, which also included Horton spitting on Saleh.

Horton is charged with murder, manslaughter, and weapons possession. He's currently hospitalized after getting hit by a ricocheted bullet during the fight that killed Saleh.