NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A Queens bodega worker shouldn’t be prosecuted for fatally stabbing a “lone robber in self-defense” this week, a group representing bodega owners said Wednesday, though the Queens D.A. didn’t immediately confirm charges wouldn’t be brought against him.
In a statement, the United Bodegas of America indicated that it didn’t expect Queens D.A. Melinda Katz to prosecute the worker, who it identified as a 21-year-old clerk named Netesh Netesh.
Katz has not commented on the case after the worker was taken into custody and questioned for hours by police at the NYPD's 112th Precinct stationhouse following the stabbing early Tuesday in Rego Park.
The NYPD said Wednesday that no one had been charged in the case.
The Queens D.A.'s Office told 1010 WINS on Wednesday: "This is an ongoing investigation. We have no comment."
UBA spokesman Fernando Mateo told 1010 WINS on Wednesday that he spoke with Katz.
“She didn't tell me much, other than she was going to do what she felt was right,” Mateo said. “And I explained what I felt was right—for Netesh to be released.”
Mateo said the young clerk is “not a criminal” and “basically acted in self-defense, according to the information we have.”
“We don’t need a victim to be victimized twice,” he said, calling the stabbing a “justifiable homicide.”
“We asked her to please make sure that she made the right decision, and I believe that she has,” Mateo said. “We're hoping she's already made it. It’s not a decision that you take lightly.”
According to police, a man in his 20s, believed to be a customer, was stabbed around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Mini Mart corner bodega at 64th Road and Queens Boulevard.
NYPD officers arrived at the scene to find him with a stab wound to his chest. He died at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst and hasn't yet been identified.
In a statement Wednesday, the UBA said it believed a “robbery of a beer” led to the fatal altercation and that the worker was “defending his business.”
“We are certain Netesh did not intend to kill this man over a beer,” the statement said. “Self-defense is most likely what took place.”
It's not the first case in recent years of a bodega worker claiming self-defense in the killing of a customer. Just last month, former President Donald Trump made a campaign stop at a Harlem bodega where a 61-year-old clerk fatally stabbed a 35-year-old customer who'd attacked him during an argument over payment on July 1, 2022. The Manhattan D.A.'s Office ultimately declined to prosecute the case, dropping a second-degree murder charge brought against the worker.