Actress Rosario Dawson says she was a longtime regular at the Alphabet City deli where beloved worker Abdul Saleh was fatally shot.
“So sad, tragic and terrible. Abdul worked at the neighborhood deli that I’ve been going to since I was a kid,” Dawson wrote on social media earlier this week. “He was a very sweet and beloved member of the community.”
Saleh, 28, a father of two, was gunned down outside his family’s Avenue B bodega, Sal’s Deli and Grocery, after a, April 25 scuffle with the alleged killer, who had history of stealing and menacing the store’s workers.
Dawson grew up in a squatter’s den on East 13th Street, on the same block as the bodega, where she was famously discovered sitting on the stoop by a filmmaker. Her parents continued to live in the building after the “Sin City” actress made it big.
“To think Abdul can be seen in news coverage, just a year ago, decrying the violence he ultimately fell victim while petitioning for installments of panic buttons as per the United Bodegas Of America campaign,” Dawson continued.
“Sending my condolences to his daughter, family and friends. Blessings always to my LOISADA /Alphabet City gente.”
Saleh had been working a shift at the family-run store when the alleged gunman, Kavone Horton came in at about 11:30 p.m. The problem patron allegedly opened fire after an argument spilled out onto the street.
Horton, 28, an alleged gang member, has since been charged with murder, manslaughter and weapons possession.
