A 16-year-old boy was gunned down during a clash inside a Brooklyn bodega, police said Saturday.
Victim Marquise Byfield had just stepped into the Livonia Deli & Grocery on Livonia Ave. near Ashford St. in East New York when he got into a fight with another teen at about 4:15 p.m. Friday, cops and store manager Karrar Obaid told the Daily News.
“The first one came in and the second one came in behind him, and they started fighting,” Obaid, 35, recalled. “I was behind the counter. When we heard shots, we lay down (on the floor).”
Courtesy of family
Marquise Byfield, 16, was fatally shot on Friday. (Courtesy of family)
Marquise was shot in the chest and groin area, cops said. Medics rushed him to Brookdale University Hospital, where he died a short time later.
At least two shots were fired, witnesses said. Bullets shattered a glass refrigerator door behind Marquise, who fell to the ground right next to the counter.
“There was blood everywhere,” Obaid said. “Police heard the shots and they came in right away and they see the guy on the floor. They tried to make sure he was still alive. But then, after about 45 minutes, we heard he died.”
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
A 16-year-old boy was fatally shot inside a bodega on Livonia Ave. in East New York on Friday afternoon. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
The shooter, who is believed to be between 15 and 16 years old, managed to slip away before police arrived. He was still being sought by authorities Saturday.
Marquise lived in Brownsville, about a mile from where he was shot, cops said.
At least one witness said it appeared Marquise ducked into the bodega in an attempt to hide from the shooter.
The killing comes a day before Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced the arrest of 18-year-old Zahir Davis, who was wanted in the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy during a water balloon fight in a Queens park earlier this month.
Davis had fled to Jamaica, but was grabbed and arrested late Friday when he flew back to New York.
After detectives left, Obaid and his co-workers closed the store for more than eight hours as they cleaned up the blood and repaid the shattered refrigerator door, he said.
“I feel bad for these kids and the families that have to protect the kids,” Obaid said, reflecting on the violence. “If you kill somebody, you spend the rest of your life in jail. It’s not worth it.”
“Everybody is angry for nothing,” he added. “You should be more humble and more forgiving.”