Brooklyn bodega worker says self-defense in fatal deli scuffle

A Brooklyn bodega worker told the Daily News that he and a fellow employee acted in self-defense during a fatal confrontation with a man who barged into Royal Deli & Grill in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood Monday night. Kelvin Melo described Gerry Hill, 59, entering the store and slugging a clerk before the workers grappled with him on the floor.

During the struggle, Melo said he looked around and saw blood, and he went to the bathroom to clean up, only to realize it was Hill's blood. Hill had entered the shop shouting and, according to Melo, threatened the workers, saying, "I want to fight you. I'm going to f--ing kill you. Any one of you come outside and fight." Melo said Hill barged in and began the confrontation, prompting him and a second clerk to intervene and attempt to restrain Hill.

In the melee, another clerk, Mukel Shaibi, joined in and struck Hill on the head with a baton. Melo said he did not see Shaibi strike Hill himself because he was at the bottom of the struggle. "After the fight Shaibi showed me the stick he was hitting him with. It was broken. It was a stick we used to break ice with," Melo added. Hill ultimately left the store to go home but was rushed to the hospital, where he died.

Police and law enforcement sources said the two deli workers were questioned and have not been charged as of now. Investigators are examining the events of the altercation and Hill's death as part of the ongoing inquiry.

The incident occurred at Royal Deli & Grill, a neighborhood bodega in Bushwick, highlighting ongoing concerns about violence at small, independently run food shops in New York City. The workers, who were temporarily detained for questioning, have not been charged as authorities continue to piece together the sequence of events and assess whether self-defense was a permissible response to the threat Hill allegedly posed.