Brooklyn deli worker recounts clash with customer who punched him, menaced him with knife, fired gun: ‘It was about his pride’ (EXCLUSIVE)
An argument over cold cuts led a crazed customer to punch a Brooklyn deli worker, menace him with a knife — and then return to shoot up the store, the shaken victim told the Daily News.
Bobby Roman, 41, was working the counter at Arden Deli and Grill on Rockaway Parkway near Farragut Road in Canarsie when the customer came in and asked for some sliced pastrami and cheese a little before 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Roman was filling the order when the customer walked out of the store and disappeared. Figuring the customer had abandoned the order, Roman moved onto the next customer in line, who wanted two sandwiches.
But a few minutes later, the customer returned, demanding to know where his pastrami was.
“I had already cut the meat when he left,” Roman said. “When he came back I asked him to hold on so I could finish another customer’s order but he grew impatient and started giving me attitude.”
The customer, who workers had seen in the store before, started cursing at Roman.
“I don’t deal with with that so I told him to get out,” Roman said.
That only made the customer angrier and he stormed up and punched Roman in the face.
“I chased him out of the store and around the corner,” Roman said. “Then he pulled a knife and chased me back into the store.”
Roman grabbed his own knife from the deli counter and turned back to the customer who “took off running,” Roman said.
But a minute later the customer returned — this time with a gun.
The customer fired two rounds into the ceiling, sending other customers and workers scrambling for cover.
“I tucked and rolled into the back,” Roman said. “The guy who ordered the sandwiches ducked behind the sodas.”
The crazed customer was last seen speeding off in a black Mercedes-Benz SUV, cops said.
“This wasn’t about the wait, it was about his pride,” Roman said. “I’m just a deli clerk and how dare I not move fast enough for him. But I’m a big 200-pound guy so he must have felt intimidated by me when I told him I wasn’t going to give him anything.”
In typical New York City fashion, everyone went right back to work, even as cops were called, Roman remembered.
“The gun smoke was still in the air and the other customer turned to me and said ‘You got those sandwiches for me, right?’” Roman remembered, laughing.
Cops on Thursday released surveillance photos of the suspect in the hopes someone recognizes him.
He’s described as Black, bald and between 50 and 60. He was wearing a white T-shirt, blue jeans and brown shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
