Killer shoots Brooklyn bodega worker who wouldn’t give free Black & Mild: victim’s mother
A Brooklyn bodega worker was shot in cold blood over a single Black & Mild cigarillo on Monday, cops and the victim’s mother say.
Police found Nazim Berry, 36, on the sidewalk outside Amin Deli Inc. on Franklin Ave. near Lincoln Place in Crown Heights after responding to a 911 call around 4:15 p.m., authorities said.
The violence erupted after a man asked Berry for a free Black & Mild, got turned down, left and came back with a gun, the victim’s mother told the Daily News.
“He walked up and asked my son to buy him a Black & Mild. My son said no. He doesn’t even smoke them,” said grieving mom Danette Hollie, 58.
“People in the neighborhood were always asking him to give them things for free. He resented it,” she added. “(The attacker) went and came back with a gun. He killed my son over a Black & Mild.”
Medics rushed the man to Kings County Hospital, but he could not be saved.
Berry worked cleaning, packing and garbage-removal jobs at three area bodegas, according to Hollie.
The man was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 16 and regularly took his medications, she said.
“People in the neighborhood made him nervous because they were always asking for things for free. They couldn’t accept ‘no.’ When the guy pulled the gun, they tussled over it. He shot him in the back of the head,” the distraught mom said.
There were no immediate arrests as cops continued to investigate Monday.
An eyewitness showed the Daily News a grisly photo she took of the victim with a grievous head wound.
