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In May 2025, Abdul Saleh sounded the alarm against the increase in violent crime in New York City. Over the weekend, he was shot and killed while working at his family-run store.

According to the New York Post:

His tragic death came nearly a year after an interview he gave to WABC-TV News in a report about “panic buttons” for bodega workers to help protect them from armed and dangerous street thugs.

“People get shot, killed,” Saleh told the local station in May 2025. “Sometimes you get robbed and the police never respond quickly, come three or four hours late.”

This is incredibly sad, and the fact that he predicted something like this could happen is deeply concerning. Not only is this preventable, which was proven by the fact that it was predictable, but leftist officials continue to turn a blind eye as they de facto condone lawlessness, all at the expense of public safety. And in that pathetic pursuit, an innocent man was killed, solely because he tried to make an honest living. This is not something that should ever happen in America, yet crimes like this have been increasing for far too long.

The interview came as the United Bodega Association business group announced a $1.6 million program to install panic buttons at 500 city stores amid a spate of violent crimes at delis and bodegas, including a series of fatal incidents in The Bronx earlier that year.

The scuffle turned deadly when someone fired off shots, striking the bodega clerk in the torso and mortally wounding him.

Because leftist politicians refuse to acknowledge the extent of their crime waves, innocent Americans continue to pay the price. The fact that he told the media he feared for his life not even a year ago makes this all the more infuriating. This is exactly what happens when you are soft on crime and why we must hold officials accountable for contributing to a culture of lawlessness.

To call this story heartbreaking would be an understatement.

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