http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/...x_bodega_34lCyvrg2IyzvA1HP913XI#ixzz25o8r6ei5
Innocent bodega worker shot and killed by cop responding to armed robbery
Last Updated: 1:32 PM, September 7, 2012
Reynaldo Cuevas was shot and killed by police after three thugs attempted to rob the Bronx bodega.
A Bronx bodega worker was fatally shot by cops this morning as he bolted from the store to escape from thugs who were holding up the place, witnesses and sources said.
“The store was being robbed and police responded and shot a worker by mistake,” said a law enforcement source.
The mayhem began around 2 a.m. as Reynaldo Cuevas, 20, and another worker were inside the Aneurys Deli Grocery, formally the Nathalie Deli Grocery, on Franklin Avenue and three armed men got behind the store’s safety glass, the sources said.
The victim's cousin, Jose Garcia, 27, said he watched the terrifying scene unfold standing across the street.
A customer noticed that a man behind the glass was not the normal employee — and then saw the store’s manager being held at gunpoint on the floor, said the victim’s cousin, Jose Garcia.
The customer ran across the street and called 911.
The masked gunman, Orlando Ramos, 31, kept the store’s employees on the floor with a .32-caliber handgun while his accomplices, Ernesto Delgado, 28, and Christopher Dorsey, 17, looted the place, grabbing Newport cigarettes, scratch-off tickets and $700 from the register, sources said.
Four cops from PSA 7 and the 42nd Precinct arrived soon after and peered in the door to the deli.
Friends at the scene react to the fatal shooting of Reynaldo Cuevas.
Ramos saw the cops and yelled, "Policia, policia, policia!" before he and Delgado fled to the back of the bodega, leaving their unarmed accomplice, Dorsey, in the front.
The manager and Cuevas, seeing that they no longer had a gun trained on them, escaped their teen captor, who decided to turn himself in.
As he ran out, Cuevas stumbled and bumped into a cop who had his gun out, law enforcement sources said.
He was shot dead.
Cops believe the gun accidentally discharged, sources said.
“He didn’t have his hands up," said Garcia. "He fell to the ground and the cops grabbed him by the arm and dragged him on the street.”
An officer responding to the armed robbery was injured after being struck by an SUV.
The other two thugs remained holed-up in the bodega until 5:30 am, when Delgado turned himself in, telling cops that he was actually a victim in the scheme.
ESU went in to arrest Ramos, and found him tied up with yellow rope -- likely part of ruse to deceive cops, sources said.
Cuevas was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died. The officer who fired his weapon was taken to Jacobi Hospital for observation.
The bodega’s owner, Cuevas’ uncle Jesus Cuevas, was not at the store at the time.
A police vehicle responding to the situation was struck by a SUV a few blocks away. The officer had serious — but not life-threatening — injuries.
All three alleged perps have criminal records, sources said.
Innocent bodega worker shot and killed by cop responding to armed robbery
Last Updated: 1:32 PM, September 7, 2012
Reynaldo Cuevas was shot and killed by police after three thugs attempted to rob the Bronx bodega.
A Bronx bodega worker was fatally shot by cops this morning as he bolted from the store to escape from thugs who were holding up the place, witnesses and sources said.
“The store was being robbed and police responded and shot a worker by mistake,” said a law enforcement source.
The mayhem began around 2 a.m. as Reynaldo Cuevas, 20, and another worker were inside the Aneurys Deli Grocery, formally the Nathalie Deli Grocery, on Franklin Avenue and three armed men got behind the store’s safety glass, the sources said.
The victim's cousin, Jose Garcia, 27, said he watched the terrifying scene unfold standing across the street.
A customer noticed that a man behind the glass was not the normal employee — and then saw the store’s manager being held at gunpoint on the floor, said the victim’s cousin, Jose Garcia.
The customer ran across the street and called 911.
The masked gunman, Orlando Ramos, 31, kept the store’s employees on the floor with a .32-caliber handgun while his accomplices, Ernesto Delgado, 28, and Christopher Dorsey, 17, looted the place, grabbing Newport cigarettes, scratch-off tickets and $700 from the register, sources said.
Four cops from PSA 7 and the 42nd Precinct arrived soon after and peered in the door to the deli.
Friends at the scene react to the fatal shooting of Reynaldo Cuevas.
Ramos saw the cops and yelled, "Policia, policia, policia!" before he and Delgado fled to the back of the bodega, leaving their unarmed accomplice, Dorsey, in the front.
The manager and Cuevas, seeing that they no longer had a gun trained on them, escaped their teen captor, who decided to turn himself in.
As he ran out, Cuevas stumbled and bumped into a cop who had his gun out, law enforcement sources said.
He was shot dead.
Cops believe the gun accidentally discharged, sources said.
“He didn’t have his hands up," said Garcia. "He fell to the ground and the cops grabbed him by the arm and dragged him on the street.”
An officer responding to the armed robbery was injured after being struck by an SUV.
The other two thugs remained holed-up in the bodega until 5:30 am, when Delgado turned himself in, telling cops that he was actually a victim in the scheme.
ESU went in to arrest Ramos, and found him tied up with yellow rope -- likely part of ruse to deceive cops, sources said.
Cuevas was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died. The officer who fired his weapon was taken to Jacobi Hospital for observation.
The bodega’s owner, Cuevas’ uncle Jesus Cuevas, was not at the store at the time.
A police vehicle responding to the situation was struck by a SUV a few blocks away. The officer had serious — but not life-threatening — injuries.
All three alleged perps have criminal records, sources said.
