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The owner of the Bronx Bodega accused of being unscrupulous while an innocent teenager was dragged and killed broke his silence Friday – apologizing to the family and saying that He was doing everything he could to help the boy. "Modesto Cruz, owner of the Cruz and Chiky store in Tremont, told reporters alongside his lawyer in a long interview in Spanish and English
Cruz and his employees at East Store 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue. criticized after being accused of not intervening to save the 15-year-old boy before the 20 June attack with a knife and a machete that would end the life of Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz.
mother [of Guzman-Feliz] to understand … the pain is not just about her.We feel the pain too, "said Cruz, who noted that he knew the" teenager "when he was small. "
Surveillance footage inside the captured bodega Guzman-Feliz rushing into the store to hide from the pack of alleged members In a movie, a worker seems to stop the teenager, but Cruz claims that he was trying to help the boy
"I closed the shop. I've already passed the key to closing the store when someone's going to jump on the counter, "Cruz said in English. "I was trying to hold him in. I do not know what happens when he told me that they were looking for him."
"I remember his face. scared and I tried to hold him back, "Cruz said, referring to Guzman-Feliz.
Cruz added that he, with the only other worker at the store that night, "panicked".
Bodega's owner said that as soon as the thugs dragged Guzman-Feliz viciously out of the store, he made his first phone call at 911 at 23:39
"I spend four minutes [on the phone] with the operator" Cruz said. "I told him, please, send the police." She took four minutes. "
Francisco Serrano's lawyer claims that his client also made a second call to 911.
" He reacted that moment, "said Serrano." He's not a policeman . He is not trained to defend himself. How many grocery store owners are killed in New York City? "
Serrano said that Cruz" tried to hide the kid "before the gang members burst in and told the store owner" do not get involved. "" At that point, we continued to evaluate the situation, "said Cruz." There were too many young children … we are only two people. We have nothing – no weapon. What they will do to us at that time. They will kill us … I'm scared for the moment. There were a lot of people. "
His lawyer sued that Cruz" did what was humanly possible to save that kid's life … in my opinion, he was a hero. He tried to save the kid. They would have been killed themselves.
"What does the community want?" Asked Serrano. "Three dead are read instead of one?"
"We respect and we are in sorrow for what happened to this kid, but we are not responsible for what happened that night," Serrano said. "It was not the fault of this kid who was killed and he did not know that these guys were going to kill this kid … I think we would all have reacted in the same way and in the same way."
Serrano added, "We are talking about 90 seconds, and they want him to make a decision and that he will put his life at risk, which he did initially." [19659002] The press conference comes a few days after a trio of city council members asked for the closing of the Cruz and Chiky store.
"An owner who stands idle while a 15-year-old is dragged out of his store and murdered in cold blood with a machete is no longer worth doing business in New York Ritchie Torres, Vanessa Gibson and Rafael Salamanca on Monday sent a letter to the Consumer Affairs Commissioner, Lorelai Salas, asking the agency to extract the business license from the company. delicatessen.
Another surveillance video shows the teenage fatally injured deli after Serrano argues that Cruz was the one who was waving, but he was the one who shows the teenager the direction of the boy. St. Barnabus Hospital nearby.
When he discovered the night of the attack that Guzman-Feliz had been killed, "it was so hard."
"After that, I spent all my night in the store," he said. "I did not go to sleep, because I can not."
Additional reportage by Stephanie Pagones
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