By Karen Frantz
Police have identified the man who died in Richmond Hill after being attacked and stabbed by a group of men outside a deli last week as 32-year-old Jose Rubio, of Jamaica.
Rubio and a 17-year-old boy were walking down Jamaica Avenue in the mid-afternoon March 6 when the group attacked them near the corner of 126th street, police said. Rubio was stabbed in the back while the teen was hit in the shoulder with a rock during the scuffle, police said.
It was not immediately clear if Rubio knew the people in the group who attacked him or what his relationship to the 17-year-old was.
Emergency workers rushed Rubio to Jamaica Hospital, but he was pronounced dead, police said. The 17-year-old declined any medical attention when emergency workers arrived at the scene of the attack, cops said.
A manager at Gourmet Deli, a shop near where the attack took place, said both victims came into his store after they were jumped.
“When he came in, I called the ambulance. That’s it,” said Ali Ahmed, the deli’s manager.
He said he had not seen Rubio before he rushed into the store and did not witness the attack.
The teen waited with the older man for the ambulance in the deli and then went with him when it arrived, Ahmed said. He said the two did not have to wait long.
Another man, Franklin Flores, said he has been living in the neighborhood for 40 years and it is generally safe.
“Usually this doesn’t happen,” he said. “Everybody knows each other, so that is very weird.” But he added he was worried now because he has relatives that come home late in the evening.
He said after hearing about the attack he tried to learn more about what happened and whether the man knew his assailants.
“I was wondering what happened, who was it?” he said.
He said he heard Rubio had gone to the deli for help and collapsed there.
Police said there were no arrests and the investigation was ongoing.
Additional reporting was done by Christina Santucci.
Reach reporter Karen Frantz by e-mail at kfrantz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
