MOTT HAVEN — An 80-year-old bodega clerk known throughout the neighborhood for his helpfulness died Wednesday, more than a week after he was beaten and robbed in his store by a pipe-wielding man who had held-up the place several times before, police said.
Manuel Rosario was stocking the shelves inside 550 E. 139th St., at St. Anns Avenue, when Jason Rivera, 27, came in about 11:40 p.m. on Sept. 1, according to an NYPD spokeswoman.
Witnesses told investigators that Rivera had robbed the store several times before, according to the NYPD.
An argument broke out between the pair that spilled outside and turned physical, police said. There, Rivera kicked the 80-year-old in the face enough times to knock him unconscious and leave him with a cranial hemorrhage, prosecutors said.
Rosario, who was known in the neighborhood as "bigote" for his prominent mustache, spent more than eight days in a medically-induced coma at Lincoln hospital. He passed away just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, a police spokeswoman said.
Rivera had cuts to his left temple when he was arrested at the scene clutching a metal pipe and Rosario's wallet, according to the NYPD.
He had been arrested 17 times before on charges including assault, burglary, weapons possession and drugs possession, a police spokeswoman said.
He was most recently arrested for an assault on Nov. 11, 2013, the spokeswoman said. The details of that case were not clear.
The morning after Rosario died, mourners placed candles outside the deli and left messages like, "I hope people learn from you, how to be a nice person and a lovely person like you was, God bless you."
When Ahmed Alzandani, 30, started managing the bodega in 2004, he kept Rosario, who had started years before, on staff because, "he was a good guy."
"He wanted to keep himself in good shape. That's why he worked," Alzandani said.
"He was always joking, joking with people, joking with us," the manager said.
John Medina, 61, said Rosario used to buy things such as diapers and milk for young mothers in the neighborhood.
"He used to help out a lot of young women with kids," he said. "He'd known them since they were young."
Antonio Serrano, 47, remembered Rosario from the neighborhood. Serrano now lives in Queens, but returned to the memorial when he heard what happened.
"He was loving, caring, giving and he got killed over nothing," Serrano said.
