Bodega clerk Felix Torres, 48, was being held up inside the family-owned Lucky Grocery & Deli on Merrick Boulevard in Laurelton, when his older brother Juan, 54, rushed to help him, only to be gunned down that fatal night of October 23.
“I lost my mind momentarily for two days,” Felix said.
The death of the clerk sparked a campaign led by Fernando Mateo, president of Hispanics Across America, and supported by Ramon Murphy, the president of the Bodega Association of the United States, to urge bodega owners to apply for handgun licenses in order to protect themselves. The goal is to deter criminals and possibly save the life of 14,000 bodega owners in the city.
“It is time to fight back,” said Mateo, who has organized Toys for Guns exchanges. “We want to level the playing field.”
If the bodega clerks had owned a gun, both Mateo and Felix agreed the night of the robbery might have turned out differently. Now after the tragic incident, Shawn Forde, 29, of Springfield Gardens, who was a regular customer of the deli, faces charges of second-degree murder charges, first-degree robbery and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Forde was arraigned and held without bail. He could serve 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
“We are the victims of these delinquents,” said Felix, who recognized Forde and picked him out of a lineup for allegedly shooting his brother in the face, killing him. “They know we don’t have protection.”
For Felix, Juan’s death was all too familiar. In 1999, his other brother Ramon was killed in front of his daughter while working at a deli in Richmond Hill. Three years later, Ramon Adames, a family friend, was killed at the same Laurelton store where Juan died. Juan’s body was sent to his hometown of San Jose de las Matas in the Dominican Republic for burial on Saturday, October 30.
“Juan was a humble man, a family man,” Felix said. “The word work was another dimension for him.”
To prevent that more bodega clerks become victims like Juan and Ramon, some City Councilmembers have pledged to push legislation to require bodega owners to install security cameras. They also plan to ask the police to quickly process handgun permit applications, which cost $340 each.
“I am sickened when I hear law abiding citizen getting killed by some punk,” said Councilmember Peter F. Vallone Jr., who is the chairman of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee. “Cameras work, but they are not full proof because we constantly see robberies on cameras.”
Felix said he would like for any legislation inspired by his brother’s killing to be named after Juan, so as to send a message to bodega thieves.
“We are not here to do any harm to anyone,” Felix said. “We are here to provide a service to the community.”
