Three lives forever changed in seconds in a deadly fight at a fish market in New York

The course of three lives is forever changed in an angry outburst at a Harlem fish market.

Two brothers who were trying to buy shrimp for a birthday party instead got into a fight with store employees on the night of February 21, with one brother being fatally stabbed and the other facing criminal charges for a brief and fatal altercation during which he also employee was arrested.

“The whole incident,” said Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Mireille Dee, “took 35 seconds.”

The younger Aquino Hernandez, an employee at the still-closed store, is charged with assaulting Malik Burrell on the eve of his 25th birthday, while surviving brother Bobby struggles with the aftermath of a wild hand-to-hand fight in which he dragged his dying brother from the store.

“He’s out of his mind,” dad Robert Burrell told the Daily News of the 29-year-old Bobby. “He is an emotional wreck. He had never been in anything like this before. And he lost his brother.

According to his father, the surviving brother suffers from panic attacks and breathing problems. And he faces robbery and assault charges in connection with a videotaped incident in which the Burrell brothers clashed with three workers at a fish express market on St. Nicholas Place, near West 155th Street.

Hernandez, 34, was charged with assault after prosecutors initially filed murder and possession charges following a fight in which Malik Burrell was fatally shot.

The fish store has yet to reopen after it was raided by an angry mob a few days earlier and employees stuck inside called 911 to help police make a safe exit, a Manhattan prosecutor said.

The future of the business seems bleak at best as frightened workers stay at home after the stabbing.

One lifelong resident of the area said the workers treated people well, even if their fish was a bit pricey. But she didn’t see a bright future for the seafood business.

“People who wanted to prevent their opening went crazy because someone was killed here,” said a woman who wished to remain anonymous. “Oh no, this boy’s family has always lived here. They’ll have to sell or something like that. They will never be able to open again.”

67-year-old resident of the area Kenny Parrom agreed that he had never seen any signs of racial hostility on the part of store employees towards black customers.

“The food is good and they are good people,” said a Con Ed employee. “I am here three times a week. I’m a black person and they treat me well…Junior is a nice guy. He was just trying to protect himself. It’s hard here. Everyone here wants to be a gangster.”

The timeline provided by prosecutors tells of a verbal altercation between employees and Bobby Burrell when a fight broke out outside the store after Burrell allegedly tried to leave without paying for his shrimp order around 9:30 p.m.

The fight spilled over to the sidewalk outside before Bobby Burrell returned with his brother four minutes later and the two went behind the counter to confront the workers, prosecutors said.

One of the employees grabbed a chair before Hernandez raised a knife and stabbed Malik twice in the torso before the fight ended at the store’s front door, prosecutors said.

Bobby Burrell also received three stab wounds, and a store worker was hospitalized with cuts to his face and head, as well as a broken tooth.

The father of two remains outraged at the decision to drop major charges against the man who stabbed his son.

“He said it was an accident,” said dad Robert Burrell. “How is it by chance that he stabbed two people so many times?”