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Read the press release here.

VIDEO: Armed Men Rob East Harlem Bodega, Demanding Cigarettes and Cash

East Harlem Bodega Robber
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Deli & Grocery

EAST HARLEM — A bodega worker who was held at gunpoint on Saturday morning said the brush with death left him with a newfound appreciation for life.

Ahmed Mohamed, 30, was opening the deli at 5 East 115th St. when two men in their early 20s walked in at roughly 9 a.m., according to police.

The pair browsed the store briefly before one of them pulled out a gun and pointed it at Mohamed, demanding cash, cigars, and cigarettes.

“I thought this was the last moment for me,” Mohamed said. “I thought I was going to die.”

Mohamed handed the gunman some of the money in the cash register — which only had a little more than $100 at the time — and tried use his cell phone to call 911.

When the robbers noticed Mohamed trying to make a call one of them took the gun and nearly hit Mohamed's face with the barrel. 

As the gunman continued to wave the gun in his face, the video shows Mohamed trying to knock the gun out of his hand.

Moments later the two men, and a third accomplice who kept look-out in front of the store, left without firing any shots.

Police described one of the suspects as being 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds and the other as 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds, police said.

Mohamed, who has worked in the store since 2009, said the incident gave him a new lease on life.

“I feel like I have a whole new life now,” he said.

He was shaken up immediately after the attack but decided to go back to work the following Monday as a way of standing up to his attackers, he said.

The men have not yet been arrested, police said.