Friend of New York grocery store clerk killed by gunman in hazmat suit worried he was working alone

A close friend of the slain Upper East Side night shift deli worker was worried for the elderly clerk’s safety even before he was shot dead by a robber in a hazmat suit.

The 67-year-old victim, who was killed Friday in what police believe is a string of robberies, survived the fear of being mugged last year with the help of a friend who stayed at the store so he wasn’t alone.

“I said, ‘Mike. I don’t think you should be here alone,” recalls 67-year-old Helen Rambert talking to the victim.

He was working at Daona Deli and Grocery at E. 81st Street and Third Ave. when a gunman killed him around 11:20 pm Friday.

Police have not yet released the victim’s full name, although neighbors and friends have erected a small memorial outside the grocery store, calling it “Michael.”

Rambert recalled an incident last year when she came to the store at 3 am and saw that her friend was scared that another customer inside might rob him. So she stayed at the deli until the man left.

“As soon as the guy came out of the store, he hugged me so tightly. He squeezed me. He said, “Thank you. Thank you so much… I think this guy tried to rob me,” she told Daily News. “Since then, we’ve been like two drops of water.”

Rambert, who has lived in the neighborhood for 15 years, often walks at night and meets Michael whenever she goes shopping early in the morning.

– He’s a night worker. He was very close to me and I was very close to him. We joke and stuff like that,” she said. “Sometimes late at night — at 1, 2 a.m. — I would come for my things, and he was there.”

Ten years ago, she’d been worried about his safety on the night shift.

“I asked him. I said, ‘Mike, why are you working here late by yourself?’

His response was, “Oh, it’s all right. I’ll be fine,” she recalled.

The victim was standing behind a counter Friday night when a robber, wearing a mask and head-to-toe white hazmat suit, entered and demanded that the customer lie down on the floor and empty his pockets, police sources said.

The buyer complied, sources said, and the shooter turned his attention to Michael, hitting him in the head with a gun butt.

The burglar walked to the back of the store and the customer fled after hearing a gunshot as he ran, sources said.

The bullet pierced the victim’s left arm and then hit him in the head.

Another friend, Alan Mandel, 71, said he saw Michael about an hour ago when he went for a cup of coffee.

“I know Mike was on duty. And there was nobody in the store,” Mandel said. “We had our congratulations. ‘Mid?’ ‘Yeah.’ “How much sugar?” “Three”… And we just had a little chat.”

According to Mandel, Michael was vigilant but kind and would often let the homeless come in from the cold.

“Even if they don’t admit it, everyone is worried and looking around at night,” he said of the area.

About half an hour later, a gunman wearing a Tyvek-style hazmat suit robbed YaYa Deli in the Bronx at Melrose Avenue and E. 160th Street, police said. The two crime scenes are about 5 miles apart.

The manager said that a second man in the same suit was guarding the house.

Police are investigating whether the killer committed two robberies in Brooklyn, one on February 25 and the other on March 1, sources say. In both cases, the scammer was wearing a Tyvek suit.

During the March 1 robbery, a man in a hazmat suit dressed as a gang robbed the Super Deli Market on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint.

The worker told The News that the gunman walked to the back of the store, took out six cans of Tecate beer and put them in this camo book bag, pointed to a food delivery driver inside the store and showed the cashier a gun. .

The attacker “calmly” demanded all the money in the cash register, “at least $1,500,” and five packs of cigarettes, the worker recalls. “When he pointed a gun at me, a customer came in and immediately ran out.”

“At that moment, I was just surprised, as if shocked, that something like this could happen in this area. It was the first time I was robbed,” he said. “When you see a mask and hazmat suit these days, it looks normal with all this COVID stuff.”