Wannabe Robber Flees Zabar’s After Accidentally Shooting Himself

A man shot himself inside Zabar’s on June 14. Image by Dave Winer

By Veronika Bondarenko June 14, 2016

A morning at a popular Jewish deli started off with a bang when a man accidentally shot himself and ran away.

The man was waiting in line at Zabar’s to pay for some groceries when, around 8:30 a.m., a loaded gun he was carrying in the waistband of his pants went off, said a representative from the NYPD who wished to remain anonymous. He said that the incident resulted in a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The man was approximately 5-foot-9 and 230 pounds, DNAinfo reports.

Shortly after the shooting, Joanne Jaffe, NYPD Chief of Community Affairs, released a tweet saying that she would not be getting her morning coffee because the area around Zabar’s was closed off for investigation by police from the 20th precinct.

Not getting my morning ☕️ today. Sgt. Condon @NYPD20Pct is securing the crime scene. pic.twitter.com/FJrJhERrxc

— Chief Joanne Jaffe (@NYPDCommAffairs) June 14, 2016

The NYPD said that, as of 11:30 a.m., officers were still on scene to conduct an investigation into the incident.

A Zabar’s representative declined to comment on the situation.

He was taken into police custody for questioning. It is not known if he was carrying the gun legally.

The New York Post reported that the man had planned to rob the store, which specializes in smoked fish and gourmet food and has a large Jewish clientele.

The cafe remained closed after the shooting, but the supermarket remained open, according to reports.—With JTA

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO