UPDATED 7/7, 10:30 p.m. ET: Jose Alba, who was being detained at Rikers Island, was released on bail Thursday night, according to the New York Post.
UPDATED 7/7, 8:10 p.m. ET: The New York Postreports a judge has agreed to lower the bail for Jose Alba, a worker at Blue Moon Convenience Store who has been charged with second-degree murder after fatally stabbing a customer during an altercation.
Alba was being held on $250,000 bail after prosecutors initially sought a $500,000 bail because he allegedly had a trip to the Dominican Republic planned for later this month. Prosecutors requested lowering his bail to $50,000 after reaching an agreement with Alba’s lawyer Danielle Jackson.
“We believe the surrender of his passport, as well as the electronic monitoring and the restriction that he may not leave the five boroughs, will ensure the fact that defendant will not go to the DR as he planned to,” Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sigall said in court.
Alba’s boss and relatives have gathered $5,000, which would be enough to grant his release on a bail bond.
His imminent release comes after footage of the altercation surfaced.
Please be warned of the graphic nature of the video below.
Before visiting the site of the incident Thursday, New York City mayor Eric Adams expressed his support for Alba during a press conference. “My heart goes out for this hard-working, honest New Yorker that was doing his job in his place of business, where a person came in and went behind the counter and attacked him,” he said, perNew York Post.
Adams hinted at his opposition to the charge against Alba, but told reporters that he was “not going to second-guess” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s decision.
See the original story below.
A New York City bodega worker is facing murder charges after he allegedly stabbed a customer to death during an altercation over potato chips.
The New York Postreports the incident took place around 11:07 p.m. on Friday night at Blue Moon Convenience Store on Broadway near West 139th Street in Hamilton Heights.
Jose Alba, 51, is accused of fatally stabbing a customer three times during a dispute that stemmed from a bag of potato chips.
Police say Alba initially got into an argument with a woman, who was in the store with a child, because she didn’t have enough cash to purchase the chips. The woman then left the store and contacted Austin Simon, 37, who entered the bodega and proceeded to get into a verbal spat of his own with Alba.
The dispute subsequently “turned physical,” at which point Simon allegedly “went around the counter” and attacked Alba, who then “chose to take a knife and plunge it into the victim’s chest,” according to law enforcement.
Upon arriving at the scene, cops discovered Simon with multiple stab wounds, including two in the chest and one in the neck. The victim was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Alba, who was arrested after police recovered a knife at the scene, has been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
