A Big Apple deli worker gunned down outside his family’s bodega after a late-night scuffle with a known menace had tragically begged his brother to take care of his kids as he bled to death in his arms.
Father of two Abdul Saleh, 28, uttered the final heartbreaking words to his sibling just moments after he took a bullet outside Sal’s Deli and Grocery in East Village late Saturday night, a grieving relative told The Post.
“Before he died, he said, ‘Just take care of my kids,’” Saleh’s heartbroken cousin, Basam Hussain, said.
“That’s what he tell him, ‘Just take care of my kids.’”
Saleh had only just returned from a trip to Yemen to his visit his wife, 3-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son before the senseless murder, his cousin said.
He had met his son for the first time on that trip.
Then, 24 hours after touching back down in the US, Saleh was gunned down.
He had been working a shift at the family-run store when the alleged gunman, Kavone Horton, 28 — who had previously stolen from the store and harassed workers there — came in at about 11:30 p.m.
The problem patron allegedly opened fire after an argument spilled out onto the street, cops said.
Saleh suffered a gunshot wound to the torso and was later pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.
The alleged gunman was wounded, too, when one of his bullets ricocheted and struck him, police sources said.
The horror slaying unfolded after workers at the deli had already filed a slew of police reports about the suspect’s history of menacing behavior, the victim’s cousin said.
“He’d want stuff for free,” Hussain claimed. “Take, grab, and go, and always try to fight with them.”
Horton has since been charged with murder, manslaughter and weapons possession.