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A New York City deli worker, who had previously voiced concerns about the surge in violence impacting small businesses, was tragically shot and killed while on the job. Abdul Saleh, 28, became the latest casualty over the weekend during a late-night altercation that extended beyond the confines of his family’s store in Alphabet City.
Saleh’s untimely death occurred nearly a year after he spoke with WABC-TV News about the implementation of “panic buttons” designed to safeguard bodega workers from armed criminals. During the May 2025 interview, Saleh poignantly expressed his concerns, stating, “People get shot, killed. Sometimes you get robbed and the police never respond quick, come three or four hours late.”
This interview coincided with the United Bodega Association’s announcement of a $1.6 million initiative to equip 500 city stores with panic buttons, a response to a surge of violent crimes at delis and bodegas, including a series of deadly incidents in The Bronx earlier that year.
“People get shot, killed,” Saleh told the local station in May 2025. “Sometimes you get robbed and the police never respond quick, come three or four hours late.”
The interview came as the United Bodega Association business group announced a $1.6 million program to install panic buttons at 500 city stores amid a spate of violent crimes at delis and bodegas, including a series of fatal incidents in The Bronx earlier that year.
The buttons would bypass the traditional 911 system and alert NYPD central command directly.
It is not known if there was a panic button at Sal’s Deli and Grocery, at East 13th Street and Avenue B, where Saleh — a father of two young children — was working when a dispute erupted shortly after 11:30 p.m. on Saturday and spilled out onto the sidewalk.
The scuffle turned deadly when someone fired off shots, striking the bodega clerk in the torso and mortally wounding him.
Law enforcement sources told The Post that the alleged gunman, also 28, was wounded when one of the bullets ricocheted and struck him.
He was taken to a hospital with non-fatal injuries.
Police have not filed charges in the case.